Does Copyright Law provides legal definitions regarding the categorization of the different kind of works of authorship? If not, What about legal doctrine or case law definition?

[ggmarmolalioto]

US Copyright Law

Yes.

The US Code Title 17, Section 101, provides a legal definition of "Derivatives Works" "Compilations" and "Collective Works" applicable to any kind of works of authorship.

Thus under US law, these definitions are considered Legal Definitions (since are defined by law)

Pursuant to US Code Title 17, Section 101. (Derivatives Works/Compilations and Collective Works: Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright. Definitions.) The definition provided by law are as follow:

"Compilation": A “compilation” is a work formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship. The term “compilation” includes collective works.

"Collective Work": A “collective work” is a work, such as a periodical issue, anthology, or encyclopedia, in which a number of contributions, constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are assembled into a collective whole.

"Derivative Work": A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications, which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

Argentina Copyright Law

No. There are no legal definitions of "Derivatives Works: (i) Derivatives Works by Modifications, (ii) Derivatives Works by Incorporations, (ii.a) "Composite Works or Compilations of Copyrighted Works" (ii.b) "Composite Works or Compilations of Data/Materials Non-Copyrightable Works".

In the absence of legal definitions, the legal doctrine defines "derivative works" as works that are based on preexisting works.

It´s considered as "derivatives works" the adaptation, translations, actualizations, compilations, anthologies, excerpts, and any kind of transformation of a preexistence work.

As stated above a possible classification of "works of authorship" by its nature shall be:

(i) Derivative Works (i.a) “Derivative Work by Modification” of the originative work/preexistence work, (ii.a) “Derivative Work by Incorporation” of the "originative work/preexistence work" into a new work, thus forming a (ii.a.i) “Composite Works or Compilations of Copyrighted Works" and (ii.a.ii) “Composite Works or Compilations of Data/Materials Non-Copyrightable Works”.

The term "Compilations of Copyrighted Works" represents the same meaning provided by the Berne Convention in article 2 subsection 5) to the term "Collections" that the Convention defines as follows:

"Collections of literary or artistic works such as encyclopedias and anthologies which, by reason of the selection and arrangement of their contents, constitute intellectual creations shall be protected as such, without prejudice to the copyright in each of the works forming part of such collections".