Material objects

A Material Object under the Copyright Act is the form taken by a fixed work such as a film, tape, or disk for a literary work or a building or drawing for an architectural work.

After the decision in Advanced Computer Services v. MAI absolute permanence is not required and even the electrical impulses of a program in RAM are material objects, even though they are imperceptible to the ordinary observer, because they can be perceived by persons with the aid of a computer.

Transfer of ownership of any material object, including the copy or phonorecord in which the work is first fixed does not itself convey any rights in the copyrighted work embodied in the object; nor, in the absence of an agreement, does transfer of ownership of a copyright or of any exclusive rights under a copyright convey property rights in any material object.

A computer hard drive is a material object.

A computer program is not a material object but a literary work.