Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author/creator fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. This applies to written works (books, articles, blogs), visual works (images, photographs, paintings), musical compositions (lyrics, scores), audiovisual works (movies, sound recordings, video games), computer programs, unpublished works, and more. As long as the work is “original,” as in created by a human and showing at least minimal creativity, and it is “fixed” (written down, recorded, painted, etc) in a “sufficiently permanent medium,” it is protected by copyright. [U.S. Copyright Office, [U.S. Copyright Office, What is Copyright?]
The copyright owner has the exclusive right to: