Copyrights | Copyright Protection

September 28, 2009 | Attorneys

Copyrights protect several different types of work, such as:

• Literary works (lectures, speeches, reports, poems, novels, biographies)
• Musical works, artistic works (painting, photographs, drawings and sculptures)
• Films
• Sound recordings
• Published editions
• Computer programs

Copyrights begins as soon as the work is created and turned into a tangible form. That can mean the setting of music to paper or the saving of data into files. The prerequisite is that the information must be put in a tangible format and that a date and ownership be attached. Although not required in South Africa, in America copyrights need to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as a requirement in order to sue for monetary damages should a violation of the copyright arise.