The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) divides material that can have copyright protection into two broad classes:
- Works: artistic, musical, literary and dramatic works; and
- Subject matter other than works: sound recordings, film, broadcasts and published editions.
To be protected, material must fall within one of these categories. There is no requirement that works should be artistic or literary in any sense, and so material such as technical drawings and manuals are protected.
Listed below are some examples of material that falls within these categories:
- Literary works - includes poems, books (fiction and non-fiction), articles, short stories, song lyrics, rules of games, instruction manuals, catalogues, computer programs, tables and other forms of writing (except trivial expressions such as titles or slogans);
- Dramatic works - includes plays, film scripts and scenarios and other works intended to be performed, such as choreographic works;
- Musical works - musical scores and combinations of melody and/or harmony. Songs are made up of two kinds of copyright material - the lyrics (a literary work) and the musical work;
- Artistic works - includes paintings, sculptures, engravings, photographs, maps, drawings (such as sketches, architectural drawings, dress patterns, and technical drawings), buildings, models of buildings, and works of artistic craftsmanship (such as work by silversmiths, potters, woodworkers, and hand-embroiderers);
- Films - includes motion pictures, such as documentaries, feature and animated films, television programs, video tapes, video cassettes, DVDs and other fixed or recorded sequences of visual images;
- Sound recordings - includes vinyl and CDs, audio tapes and cassettes and other fixed or recorded sounds, such as taped interviews;
- Broadcasts - includes radio and television broadcasts, that is, the signals of sounds and/or images transmitted by the broadcaster;
- Published editions of works - the publisher's typesetting and layout of the edition.
See Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 10 Interpretation.
Some things such as films, sound recordings, and anthologies may contain a number of separate copyrights. For instance, a film is protected in its own right and may also contain a number of underlying works such as a script and music. This material may be owned by different people, and the copyright may expire at different times.
See also Who owns copyright? and Duration of copyright.
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The content of the Law Handbook is made available as a public service for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice. See Disclaimer for details. For free and confidential legal advice in South Australia call 1300 366 424.
