Copyrights protect original creative works of authorship.
A copyright does not protect the idea itself, but how it is expressed. The term original and creative are key in the understanding of copyright. Public documents are not original and thus are not copyrightable, information in the public domain carries no copyright. No registration is necessary. Duration of the copyright term Life of the author plus 50 years, the Bono Bill has extended this to 75 years or For anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works for hire, the shorter of 75 years from publication or 100 years from creation.