Copyright Haiku: Original Work

Original work
Five, seven, and then five more
We own this haiku

Confused by our original work? It illustrates how copyright protection applies when you create an original work, as opposed to when you register a copyright.

A copyright is a special form of legal protection provided under U.S. law to those who create “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. An original work of authorship is a work that is independently created by a human author and possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity. A work is “fixed” when it is captured (either by or under the authority of an author) in a sufficiently permanent medium such that the work can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated for more than a short time.

Again, copyright protection in the United States exists automatically from the moment the original work of authorship is fixed- registration is often a good idea (and a prerequisite to sue for infringement), but it is not required.