A copyright is the legal right given to authors and owners of artistic and literary works.

Copyright covers economic rights and moral rights. Economic right is exclusive right to carry out, authorize and prevent (a) reproduction of the work or substantial portion of the work; (b) dramatization, translation, adaptation, abridgement, arrangement or other transformation of the work; (c) the first public distribution of the original and each copy of the work by sale or other forms of transfer of ownership; (d) rental of the original or a copy of an audiovisual or cinematographic work, a work embodied in a sound recording, a computer program, a compilation of data and other materials or a musical work in graphic form, irrespective of the ownership of the original or the copy which is the subject of the rental; (e) public display of the original or a copy of the work; (f) public performance of the work; and 
(g) other communications to the public of the work. _{(Sec. 177, IP Code)}

Moral rights include the right to require the authorship of the works be attributed to the author, in particular, the right that his name, as far as practicable, be indicated in a prominent way on the copies, and in connection with the public use of his work; (b) to make any alterations of his work prior to, or to withhold it from publication; (c) to object to any distortion, mutilation or modification of or other derogatory action in relation to, his work which would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation; and (d) to restrain the use of his name with respect to any work not of his own creation or in a distorted version of his work. _{(Sec. 193, IP Code)}

The following are the requirement for the registration and deposit of copyright:

1. duly accomplished registration and deposit form;
2. document evidencing ownership of the copyright or the manner of its acquisition;
3. document evidencing identity of the applicant
   1. if natural person, either one current identification document issued by an official agency bearing the photograph and signature of the individual; or oath or affirmation of one credible witness not privy to the instrument, document or transaction who is personally known to the notary public and who personally knows the individual, or of any two credible witnesses neither of two whom is privy to the instrument, document or transaction who each personally knows the individual and shows to the notary public documentary identification.
   2. if juridical person, a certificate of registration issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission or Department of Trade and Industry.
4. Special Power of Attorney, Corporate Secretary’s Certificate or Board Resolution
5. payment of filing fee
6. two (2) original copies of the work covered by copyright

Both original and derivative works are protected under copyright law. Original works are intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain includes but are limited to:

1. books, pamphlets, articles and other writings;
2. periodicals and newspapers;
3. lectures, sermons, addresses, dissertations prepared for oral delivery, whether or not reduced in writing or other material form;
4. letters;
5. dramatic or dramatic-musical compositions; choreographic works or entertainment in dumb shows;
6. musical compositions, with or without words;
7. works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography or other works of art; models or designs for works of art;
8. original ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture, whether or not registrable as an industrial design, and other works of applied art;
9. illustrations, maps, plans, sketches, charts and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science;
10. drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character;
11. photographic works including works produced by a process analogous to photography; lantern slides;
12. audiovisual works and cinemtographic works and works produced by a process analogous to cinematography or any process for making audio-visual recordings;
13. pictorial illustrations and advertisements;
14. computer programs; and
15. other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works. _{(Sec. 172, IP Code)}.

Derivative works include:

1. dramatizations, translations, adaptations, abridgements, arrangements, and other alterations of literary music work; and
2. collections of literary, scholarly or artistic works, and compilations of data and other materials which are original by reason of the selection or coordination or arrangement of their contents. _{(Sec. 173, IP Code)}

No copyright protection extends to any idea, procedure, system method or operation, concept or principle, discovery or mere data, news, miscellaneous facts, or any official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature including official translations thereof. _{(Sec. 175, IP Code)}

Copyright of original literary and artistic works shall belong to the author of the work. _{(Sec 178.1, IP Code)}

In case of works of joint authorship, the co-authors shall be the original owners of the copyright and in absence of agreement, their rights shall be governed by the rules on co-ownership. If, however, a work of joint authorship consists of parts that can be used separately and the author of each part can be identified, the author of each part shall be the original owner of the copyright in the part that he has created. _{(Sec. 178.2, IP Code)}

If a work is created by an author in the course of his employment, the copyright shall belong to the employee, if the creation of the object of copyright is not part of his regular duties even if the employee uses the time, facilities and materials of the employer. On the other hand, if the work is the result of the performance of his regularly-assigned duties, copyright shall belong to the employer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary that is express or implied. _{(Sec. 178.3, IP Code)}

In the case of a work commissioned by a person other than an employer of the author and who pays for it and the work is made in pursuance of the commission, the person who commissioned the work shall have ownership of work, but the copyright thereto shall remain with the creator unless there is a written stipulation to the contrary. _{(Sec 178.4, IP Code)}

In case of audiovisual work, the copyright shall belong to the producer, the author of the scenario, the composer of the music, the film director, and the author of the work so adapted. However, subject to the contrary or other stipulations among the creators, the producers shall exercise the copyright to an extent required for the exhibition of the work in any manner, except for the right to collect performing license fees for the performance of musical compositions, with or without words, which are incorporated into the work. _{(Sec. 178.5, IP Code.)}

In case of letters, the copyright shall belong to the writer and may not be published or disseminated without the consent of the writer or his heirs. Ownership of the letters and other private communications in writing belong to person to whom they are addressed and delivered. _{(Sec. 178.6, IP Code in relation to Article 723 of the Civil Code)}

Copyright protection lasts during the life of the author and for fifty (50) years after his death _{(Sec 213.1, IP Code).}

In case of works of joint authorship, the economic rights shall be protected during the life of the last surviving author and for fifty (50) years after his death _{(Sec 213.2 IP Code).}

In case of anonymous or pseudonymous works, the copyright shall be protected for fifty (50) years from the day on which the work was first lawfully published: Provided, that before the expiration of the said period, the author’s identity is revealed or is no longer in doubt, copyright protection shall last during the life of the author and for fifty (50) years after his death or in case of joint authorship, the economic rights shall be protected during the life of the last surviving author and for fifty (50) years after his death; Provided further, that such works if not published before, shall be protected for fifty (50) years counted from making of the work. _{(Sec 213.3, IP Code)}

In case of works of applied art, the protection shall be for a period twenty-five (25) years from the date it was made _{(Sec. 213.4, IP Code).}

In case of photographic works and audio visual works including those produced by process analogous to photography or any process for making audio-visual recordings, protection shall be for fifty (50) years from publication of the work and if unpublished, fifty (50) years from the making. _{(Sec 213.5 and 213.6, IP Code)}

In case of sound recordings, rights granted by the Intellectual Property Code to performers and producers of sound recordings expire after the lapse of fifty (50) years from the end of the year in which the performance took place; and in cases of sound or image and sound recordings and for performances incorporated therein, fifty (50) years from the end of the year in which the recording took place. _{(Sec 215.1, IP Code)}

In case of broadcasts, the term shall be twenty (20) years from the date the broadcast took place. _{(Sec 215.2, IP Code)}

The right of the author to require that authorship of the works be attributed to him shall last during his lifetime and in perpetuity after his death. The moral rights to make alterations of this work prior to, or to withhold it from publication; to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to his work which will be prejudicial to his honor and reputation and the moral right to restrain the use of his name with respect to any work not of his own creation or in a distorted version of his work shall be coterminous with the economic rights. _{(Sec. 198.1 as amended by R.A. 10372)}

Any violation of the economic and moral rights provided by the Intellectual Property Code is considered copyright infringement.

A person who at the time when copyright subsists in a work has in his possession an article which he knows, or ought to know, to be an infringing copy of the work for the purpose of (a) selling or letting for hire, or by way of trade offering or exposing for sale or hire, the article; (b) distributing the article for the purpose of trade, or for any other purpose to an extent that will prejudice the rights of the copyright owner in the work; or (c) trade exhibit of the article in public is liable for copyright infringement. _{(Sec. 217.3, IP Code)}