Legal Definitions - new works

New Works

In legal terms, particularly within copyright law, "new works" refers to original creative expressions that have been fixed in a tangible medium. These works are eligible for legal protection, granting their creators exclusive rights to control how their creations are used, reproduced, distributed, performed, displayed, and adapted. The essential characteristics of a "new work" are:

• Originality: The work must be independently created by the author and possess at least a minimal degree of creativity. It does not need to be novel or unique in the sense of never having been seen before, but it must not be copied from another source.
• Fixation: The work must be embodied in a stable, tangible form from which it can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated. This means it exists in a physical or digital format, such as being written down, recorded, painted, or saved as a digital file.

Here are some examples to illustrate what constitutes a "new work":

• Example 1: A Novel

  An author spends several years writing a fictional novel about a detective solving a mystery in a futuristic city. Once the manuscript is completed and saved as a digital file or printed, it becomes a "new work."

  Explanation: The plot, characters, dialogue, and descriptive passages are all original creative expressions of the author. Saving the manuscript as a digital file or printing it fixes these expressions in a tangible medium, making the entire novel a "new work" eligible for copyright protection.

• Example 2: A Custom Software Application

  A software development team designs and codes a unique mobile application that uses artificial intelligence to help users learn new languages through interactive games and personalized feedback.

  Explanation: The specific lines of code, the user interface design, the algorithms, and the overall structure of this application are original creations of the development team. Once the code is written and compiled into a functional program, it is fixed in a tangible medium (the software itself), qualifying it as a "new work" eligible for copyright protection.

• Example 3: A Sculpture

  A sculptor creates an intricate bronze statue depicting a mythological creature, carefully molding the clay model before casting it in metal.

  Explanation: The unique form, composition, and artistic expression embodied in the statue are original creations of the sculptor. The physical manifestation of the statue in bronze (or even the initial clay model) serves as the tangible medium in which the artistic expression is fixed, making it a "new work" eligible for copyright protection.