(10) What are the qualifying requirements for copyright protection?

Copyright — the creator's exclusive rights over original works: the bundle of rights to control the reproduction, distribution, performance, adaptation and communication of one's created expression. Nepal's statute: the Copyright Act, 2035 (1977), as amended (the 2058-era modernization). The core divide (the definition's spine): the idea-expression dichotomy — ideas, facts, methods and information are free (not owned); the expression is protected. The media-law consequence: news itself is not copyrightable — the facts of the event belong to everyone; the news story (the wording, the arrangement) belongs to its writer. Free facts; owned expression. The creation's moment: copyright is automatic — born when the work is created and fixed (the Berne principle; no registration needed for the right's existence; registration's role is evidentiary only). The works' catalogue (the Act's list): literary works (the news story, the article, the book), artistic, musical, dramatic works; audiovisual works; computer programs; and the neighbouring rights — performers', producers' and broadcasters' rights (the broadcast organization's own signal protection).