Copyright - Works

Copyright legally protects an author's works and, therefore, is vitally important to book publishing livelihoods. Copyright protects against literary piracy, which is especially critical in this time of easy digital reproduction and distribution. It is extremely important to authors because it constitutes the ownership of one's original work. Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as architecture, graphic works, motion pictures, songs, lyrics, computer software and written works like novels and poems. What types of work are protected by copyright?