Copyright: Defining musical works in common law countries

This article examines the approach taken by Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in their definition of the term musical work under their respective copyright legislation. The lack of an adequate definition to protect the scope of all works composers consider to be musical works has led to inquiries in musicology and philosophy, as well as jurisprudence, to investigate the possibility of creating a suitable definition in future legislation. Through the specific example of lyrics, and whether or not these form part of a musical work, a serious dichotomy between jurisdictions is observed. Moving forward, this article questions how a legislative definition will cope with improvisation, and with contemporary art music genres.