Copyright protection exists for anyone who has created a literary or artistic original work, fictive or descriptive, such as a written or oral literary work, a musical work, a motion picture, a computer program, a composition, a photograph or an other pictorial work or any other work considered to be original. The requirement for getting a copyright is therefore a creation of a unique, independent and original work, not the type of the work created.
A work is therefore, as a general rule, eligible for protection if it is unique. Accordingly one should always ask the question whether a specific work is unique or not. Different types of works are considered unique according to different standards, for example a written work is quite easily considered unique. On the other hand for example textile works and works of industrial art require a very high level of originality to be considered unique and therefore eligible for protection.
Subsequent works are also protected. Finnish copyright legislation recognises translations, modifications and complied works as types of subsequent works. Accordingly, a translator has a copyright to his own work or version, i.e. the translated version of something else, and someone who complies something new from existing parts has a right to this new work. Even if the copyright for the original work has ceased, it exists for the new work. A translation of a classical work, for example an old opera, is thus protected even though the original work is not protected anymore.
It can, however, in some cases be hard to determine whether a new created work is a totally new work or simply a modification of an existing work. In such cases one must compare the similarity of the works in question. Such questions might arise either when someone claims that a new work infringes an existing copyright or when someone claims that no new work exists. In both cases one must compare the similarity of the works and hold it as a basis for further actions.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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