What Can and Cannot Be Copyrighted?

What Can and Cannot Be Copyrighted?
The U.S. Copyright Office defines the following broad categories of works for which copyrights
can be registered:
• literary works
• musical works, including any accompanying words
• dramatic works, including any accompanying music
• pantomimes and choreographic work
• pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• sound recordings
• architectural works
Computer program copyrights are typically registered as "literary works." Architectural plans and
maps are registered as "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works."
Things that cannot be copyrighted include any inventions, ideas, procedures, processes, slogans,
principles, or discoveries.