Q. What does copyright law cover?
Answer
Anything made in a “fixed tangible format” is subject to copyright. This includes books and articles published after 1923, unpublished manuscripts, photographs, video and audio recordings, and other similar materials. Copyright, however, does not protect general ideas or concepts, spoken lectures (that are not recorded), or elements of design (such as ways of laying out a website). Be aware that these may, however, be protected by other laws such as patent or trademark. For more information about general copyright issues, go to http://guides.library.upenn.edu/copyright.