NBC tells Obama not to use footage

[Ms. Toad]

45. You're not copyrighting the event -

You create copyright in your recording of it by the act of recording it. It is probably a fairly thin copyright, because there would not be much artistic contribution (which is what you are creating copyright in) - things like camera angle, degree of zoom, creative zooming in and out, lighting, any post processing, etc.

There could literally be millions of recordings - and each and every one of them is protected by copyright.

You are free to capture the event yourself (that is not protected by copyright). What you can't do is use how someone else captured the event without their consent.

(And - by the way - you don't do anything extra to copyright something. When you tape something using your cell phone, the copyright is instantly and automatically created. You can register your copyright - and anyone serious about protecting their copyrights will need to do that because you have to register it in order to sue.)