Copyright Pitfall No. 2: When Nature Inspires Your Art, Make Sure You Copy Only Mother Nature  As we discussed in Pitfall No. 1, copyright protection for nature-based works is a different animal (so to speak). While judicial opinions may seem intimidating to most artists (and people generally), it’s important to understand how courts handle copyrighted works since court is where you go to have your protections enforced. Copyright Can Be Big or Small.
You can get a copyright for your original work of authorship. But, your copyright (i.e. just what it covers) can be bigger or smaller depending on how much of your work is original to you. What Exactly Is Infringement?
The "right" in copyright entitles you to keep someone from infringing your copyright. I infringe your copyright when I copy your work, plain and simple. But, as we already covered, your copyright only covers the list of original elements you add. So, you can stop me only from taking those elements. Putting it all together, your copyright prevents me (or anyone) from copying the original elements you add to something. Don’t forget, though, when you are creating a work, you infringe if you use original elements someone else created (assuming they have a copyright). Your Day in Court
If you sue me for copying your work, the court will probably follow this same idea. It will make a list of your original elements and see how many of those elements appear in the supposedly copied work. Although this is full of case-by-case issues, the basic idea is: the higher the percent of shared elements, the better your case against me. Infringing a Nature-Based Work
When it comes to enforcing your copyright in a court, nature-based works are a double-edged sword. As we discussed before in Pitfall No. 1 , your original elements list will be shorter because many aspects of the work come from mother nature herself. Her work cannot be original to you. This is good because, the shorter list, the fewer the things you have to show appear in the copied work. On the other hand, you can only claim protection over that same small list, so, if those elements aren’t clearly in the second work, you will have a tougher time proving infringement. Continue reading here
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