As a type of intellectual property, copyright is designed to protect creative work, broadly construed. Title 17 of the U.S. Code, the federal statute that governs copyright, describes its purview as "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed." This definition is intentionally broad and designed to account for mediums that did not yet exist at the time the law was written; it encompasses a wide range of creative works, including books, poems, music, movies, photographs, paintings, recorded songs, etc. 

To learn more about copyright, visit the Copyright Basics research guide and other resources linked below.