The Scope of Copyright Protection

International conventions as well as most national laws mention that copyright law extends to 'works of a literary, scientific or artistic nature'. But what constitutes a work? Generally speaking, a work has to be more than a mere idea and has to be original. These two basic notions of copyright law will be explored in greater detail below. In recent years, there has been a trend towards extending the scope of protected works, both on the international and national levels. Recent additions concern particularly computer programs and databases. A final rather controversial case is the protection of traditional cultural expressions of local communities.