Legal Definitions - fixation

In copyright law, fixation refers to the process or result of embodying an original work of authorship in a stable and tangible medium. This means putting a creative idea or expression into a form that is permanent enough to be perceived, reproduced, or communicated for a period of time. Once a work is "fixed," it becomes eligible for copyright protection under federal law, as copyright protects the concrete expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves.

• Example 1: A Novelist Writing a Book

  When a novelist types their manuscript onto a computer and saves it as a digital file, or writes it out by hand in a notebook, they are engaging in fixation. The words, plot, and characters, which were once just ideas in the author's mind, are now recorded in a tangible form. This saved digital file or physical manuscript is the "fixed" work that can be protected by copyright.

• Example 2: A Musician Recording a Song

  A musician composes a new song, including lyrics and a melody. When they perform this song in a recording studio, and the performance is captured and stored as an audio file on a computer's hard drive or pressed onto a vinyl record, this constitutes fixation. The ephemeral sounds of the live performance are now preserved in a stable, reproducible medium, making the recorded song eligible for copyright protection.

• Example 3: A Graphic Designer Creating a Logo

  A graphic designer creates a unique logo for a company using design software. As they design and save the logo as a digital image file (e.g., a JPEG, PNG, or vector file) on their computer, they are performing fixation. The visual elements, colors, and arrangement of the logo are now embodied in a stable digital format that can be viewed, printed, and reproduced, thereby making it eligible for copyright protection.