Copyright under federal law  is limited to the original expression embodied in a work of authorship.

This is to be distinguished from ideas, concepts, or information. The protection is on the expression of the idea, not the idea/concept. Creation by someone else of an identical work without copying the original work is not a violation of the copyright laws.

Copyright protection occurs when the original work of authorship is fixed in any tangible medium. Thus when we save the first chapter of the great American novel to disk, we have a copyright on that chapter.

To perfect our copyright, we must register the work with the Copyright Office. This must be done before bringing any copyright infringement action.