l, graphic,
and sculptural works."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT?

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal
copyright protection. These include among others:

+ Works that have *not* been fixed in a tangible form of expression
(for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or
recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not
been written or recorded)

+ Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or
designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or
coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents

+ Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts,
principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a
description, explanation, or illustration

+ Works consisting *entirely* of information that is common property
and containing no original authorship (for example: standard
calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and
lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOW TO SECURE A COPYRIGHT

Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation

The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently
misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the
Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. (See following Note.)
There are, however, certain definite advantages to registration. See
"Copyright Registration." Copyright is secured *automatically* when the
work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or
phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which
a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid
of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film,
videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords" are material objects embodying
fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture
soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a
song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music (" copies") or in
phonograph disks (" phonorecords"), or both.

If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that
is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that
date.

---------------------------------