The Scope of Copyright Protection

Must works be fixed in a tangible form to be protected?

The issue of whether a work must be fixed in a tangible form in order to be protected is not dealt with in a uniform way. Usually common law countries require that, in order to enjoy protection, the work must be fixed by any tangible, material means (for example it could be written on a piece of paper, or recorded on a cassette, a CD, a DVD, or stored on a floppy disk or on the computer hard disk), where as countries with a civil law tradition do not have such a requirement. International law allows for both ways. Whether a work needs to be fixed in order to benefit from protection has important practical consequences, especially with regard to works of improvisation such as music, speeches or choreographies. If fixation is required, those works would not be protected until they are either recorded or transcribed. By contrast, in a country without fixation requirements, copyright protection takes effect from the very moment the work is created, i.e. when the improvised music or dance is performed or the speech is given.