An important aspect of copyright law is that a copyright protects an artist’s expression of an idea and not the underlying idea. The public policy behind this aspect of copyright law is that artists frequently draw inspiration from other artists, to grant a copyright owner the exclusive right to an idea embodied in a copyrighted work would have a chilling effect on creativity. This means that an artist that paints a picture of a tree has a copyright on their painting, but other artists are free to create their own painting of a tree.