Copyright in the 21st Century Introduction Copyright laws protect intellectual property so that its creators, and no one else, can enjoy both the profits that come from it, and the recognition for having created it. This paper briefly considers the purpose of copyright in the 21 century. Discussion There are very specific rules about what can be copyrighted. Those properties include literary works including “articles and abstracts published in scientific / technical / medical journals” (Copyright in the 21st century, 2007). Also included in the list are graphic, pictorial works and sculpture; illustrations in journals; Dilbert cartoons; “musical works, including any accompanying music”; choreographed works, including pantomimes; dramatic works, including “any accompanying music”; musical works, “including any accompanying words”; films; audiovisual works; recordings; architectural works and computer software (Copyright in the 21st century, 2007). Things that cannot be copyrighted include ideas, “facts, data, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation or illustrating (Copyright in the 21st century, 2007). But while and idea cannot be protected, the form in which it appears may be (Copyright in the 21st century, 2007). Works that “have not been fixed in an tangible form by being written, recorded or captured electronically” cannot be copyrighted; neither can names, titles, “short phrases or slogans”; ordinary (non-artistic) designs and symbols; simple variations in “typographic ornamentation,” coloring, lettering, simple lists of ingredients or contents (Copyright in the 21st century, 2007). Other things not liable to be put under copyright include works that consist “en