Legal Definitions - tangible cost

A tangible medium of expression refers to any physical form in which a creative work is fixed, allowing it to be perceived, reproduced, or communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine. For a creative work to be eligible for copyright protection, it must exist in such a medium, meaning it is stable and permanent enough to be perceived for more than a fleeting duration.

• Example 1: A graphic designer creates a unique logo for a company. Once the design is saved as a digital file on a computer's hard drive, uploaded to a cloud storage service, or printed onto a business card, it is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. The hard drive, the physical servers hosting the cloud storage, or the printed card are the tangible forms that embody the designer's creative work.

• Example 2: A playwright finishes writing a new script for a theatrical production. When the script is typed into a word processing document and saved on a USB flash drive, or printed out and bound into a physical book, it exists in a tangible medium. The USB drive or the printed pages are the physical objects that hold the author's literary creation.

• Example 3: A musician composes an original instrumental piece. After recording the performance in a studio, the audio track is saved as a digital file on a master recording tape or burned onto an audio CD. In this scenario, the recording tape or the compact disc serves as the tangible medium of expression, embodying the musician's unique musical composition.