Like patents, copyrights are authorized by Article I of the Constitution. Copyrights result from the tangible expression of creative thought. While copyright registration is no longer required to obtain rights in creative works, registration is required before copyrights can be enforced in the courts. By international convention, foreign copyrights are similar, but not quite identical, to U.S. rights.
Copyrights can be valuable business assets.
For instance, Copyrights can protect works such as trade manuals, advertisements, sales brochures, architectual plans, and computerprograms. Also, Work for Hire agreements are essential when outside creative help is used. Without such an agreement it is often the artist and not the paying customer who owns the rights to the resulting work.