What works are protected by copyright? What does copyright protect?

A work that is eligible is fulfillment of the following conditions:

• Sufficient effort has been expended to make the work original in character.


• The work has been written down, recorded or reduced to material form.


• The author is a qualified person or the work is made in Malaysia or the work is first published in Malaysia.

Works eligible for protection are:

• Literary works 1


• Musical works


• Artistic works 2


• Films


• Sound recordings


• Broadcasts


• Derivative works 3


• Published editions of works

Works shall be protected irrespective of their quality and the purpose for which they were created.

Copyright protection shall not extend to any idea, procedure, method of operation or mathematical concept as such.

References

1. "literary work" includes:
   
   1. novels, stories, books, pamphlets, manuscripts, poetical works and other writings;
   2. plays, dramas, stage directions, film scenarios, broadcasting scripts, choreographic works and pantomimes;
   3. treatises, histories, biographies, essays and articles;
   4. encyclopaedias, dictionaries and other works of reference;
   5. letters, reports and memoranda;
   6. lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same nature;
   7. tables or compilations, whether or not expressed in words, figures or symbols and whether or not in a visible form; and
   8. computer program;
   
   
   but does not include official texts of the Government or statutory bodies of a legislative or regulatory nature, or judicial decisions;


2. "artistic work" means:
   
   1. a graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, irrespective of artistic quality;
   2. a work of architecture being a building or a model for a building; or
   3. a work of artistic craftsmanship,
   
   
   but does not include a layout-design within the meaning of the Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits Act 2000 [Act 601];


3. The following derivative works are protected as original works:
   
   1. translations, adaptations, arrangements and other transformations of works eligible for copyright; and
   2. collections of works or collections of mere data, whether in machine readable or other form, works eligible for copyright which, by reason of the selection and arrangement of their contents, constitute intellectual creation.

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