Copyright

Copyrights, a topic of considerable interest to faculty, staff, and students at institutions of higher learning, are intangible rights granted by the federal Copyright Act to authors or creators of original artistic or literary works that can be fixed in tangible [Page 107]media of expression such as hard copy, electronic files, videos, or audio recordings. In copyright law, originality is not difficult to establish; any modicum of originality suffices. For example, question items on examinations are original works of authorship for copyright law purposes. Important to the concept of “fixed,” the act defines “medium of expression” broadly to include expression made with the aid of a machine or device.