ABSTRACT
The 1976 Copyright Act provides that copyright protection “subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed” (17 U.S.C.A. § 102(a)). Apart from fixation, originality is the most important quality needed in a work for it to receive copyright protection. For the purposes of obtaining copyright protection, originality is not dependent on a work meeting any standard of aesthetic or artistic quality. This low level of originality contrasts to the novelty requirement under patent law, which requires a patentable invention to be new and not otherwise seen before. This requirement is not only designed to prevent the creation of works similar to original copyrighted works but also to prevent authors from appropriating elements of an original work that is considered inherently unoriginal, hence un-copyrightable. Thus, the Copyright Act explicitly excludes from protection “any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery.”
