The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently
misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the
Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. (See following Note.)
There are, however, certain definite advantages to registration. See
"Copyright Registration." Copyright is secured *automatically* when the
work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or
phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which
a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid
of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film,
videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords" are material objects embodying
fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture
soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a
song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music (" copies") or in
phonograph disks (" phonorecords"), or both.
If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that
is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that
date.
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