What does a copyright protect?

Many businesses have tangible assets that they need to protect. These can include things like machinery, real estate and other supplies and materials. This is property that can be seen and touched. However, this is not the case for all businesses. Some businesses in New York have intangible property. This is property that may not necessarily be able to be held or touched, but is still as valuable as some of these other types of assets.

Often, this intangible property is called intellectual property. Intellectual property can be an integral part of a New York business’ assets. If this intellectual property is violated, the business can lose money and begin to fail. Therefore, steps need to be taken to keep intellectual property safe.

There are a variety of legal protections available for intellectual property, including copyrights. New York businesses should understand when certain intellectual property protections are available and when they are not. For example, copyrights are only available in specific situations.

Copyrights help to protect original work created by an author. This includes dramatic works, musical work and literary work. However, copyrights go beyond this and can also protect architectural designs, movies and motion pictures, sculptures, pictures, choreography and more. Each of these categories is broadly defined and covers a variety of specific artistic work. Copyrights do not protect certain intellectual property such as short phrases, ideas, slogans, procedures, discoveries or other such explanations.

It is important for New York businesses to understand when a copyright can be used to protect them. A copyright infringement or other intellectual property violation could be serious for eight New York business. In many cases, this requires legal action to protect the company’s intellectual property rights.