Copyright law and cultural heritage law differ not only in their relationships to property law but also in the specific criteria of their applicability. That being said, the two fields are not mutually exclusive. Although not all cultural objects necessarily constitute works, and, conversely, not all works will necessarily attain the status of cultural property, there nevertheless remains a point of intersection, a shared heritage. The personal dimension is of central importance in characterizing works of the spirit, while heritage law hinges on cultural value, primarily constructed from an object's historical interest, applying a more objective approach supported by the passage of time. We can observe a continuum of sorts from the time the work is first perceived as a creation of the spirit to the time it is granted cultural property status. However, cultural heritage law offers protection earlier and earlier; at the same time, creation law is extending its reach over a longer period. Although they serve different interests—those of the author, on the one hand, and those of society, on the other—these modes of protection nevertheless have a common purpose: both attempt to attach to the integrity of works, to some extent their intangible aspects. Thus they have a functional proximity evidenced by their evolving relationships to time. Distinct as they are, the two sets of selection criteria are increasingly tending toward one another. This article purports to identify the contact points between cultural heritage law and copyright law and explore the influence of these fields on one another.