copyright law fall 2006 class 4 columbus school of law the catholic university of america professor...
TRANSCRIPT
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COPYRIGHT LAW FALL 2006 CLASS 4
Columbus School of Law
The Catholic University of America
Professor Fischer
August 30, 2006
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WRAP UP OF LAST CLASS
• Rationale underlying copyright law: economic and philosophical theories
• Do they really fit our copyright system?
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UNIT II
• Copyrightability: What subject matter is protected by copyright law?
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Constitutional Question
• Is it a “Writing” of an “Author”? If so, Congress may protect it for a “limited time” to “promote the progress of Science and the Useful Arts”
• See e.g. Burrow-Giles
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Originality Requirement
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Originality Requirement
• 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)
“Copyright protection subsists in original works of authorship fixed in a any tangible medium of expression . . . .”
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An Originality Question
• Jane writes a song. Jane never plays her song for anyone else, and consequently Emma has never heard Jane’s song. Suspend credulity and imagine that Emma writes a song that is identical to Jane’s. Is Emma’s song copyrightable?
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Learned Hand: Independent Creation Requirement
• “. . .[I]f by some magic a man who had never known it were to compose anew Keats’ Ode On a Grecian Urn, he would be an “author,” and, if he copyrighted it, others might not copy that poem, though they might of course copy Keats.”
• Sheldon v. MGM, 81 F.2d 49, 54 (2d Cir. 1936), aff’d, 309 U.S. 390 (1940)
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NOVELTY IS NOT REQUIRED FOR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
• Unlike patent protection
• See Alfred Bell & Co. v. Catalda (2d Cir. 1951) CB 52
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Can “Dr. Nerd” Copyright . . .
• . . . a heretofore undiscovered and unpublished manuscript of a Shakespeare play that he found while exploring the stacks of Mullen Library?
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Exact Copies• Arthur, a forger,
creates an exact reproduction of Rembrandt’s 1629 Self Portrait.
• Experts cannot distinguish Arthur’s copy from the original
• Is Arthur an “author” for the purposes of copyright?
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In Bell v. Catalda, Justice Frank stated:
• “A copyist’s bad eyesight or defective musculature, or a shock caused by a clap of thunder, may yield sufficiently distinguishable variations [to be considered original enough to be copyrighted]. Having hit on such a variation unintentionally, the “author” may adopt it as his own and copyright it.”
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2 requirements of originality
• What are they?
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COPYRIGHTABILITY: ORIGINALITY
REQUIREMENTTwo aspects: • (1) independent creation • (2) at least some minimal
degree of creativity • See Feist, 499 U.S. 340 (1991)
– CB p. 75
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Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co. (1903) CB 33 (at
34)• Personality always contains something unique.
It expresses its singularity even in handwriting, and a very modest grade of art has in it something irreducible which is one man's alone. That something he may copyright unless there is a restriction in the words of the act.
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Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co. (1903) CB 33
•
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Catalda (p. 54)
• '‘Originality [in the copyright] context means little more than a prohibition of actual copying. No matter how poor the 'author's' addition, it is enough if it be his own.”
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Jabberwocky
• WOULD “‘TWAS BRILLIG AND THE SLYTHY TOVES” be copyrightable?
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Copyright Office Regulation provides that some works are not copyrightable, including:
• “Words and short phrases, such as names, titles, and slogans, familiar symbols or designs, mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring; mere listing of ingredients or contents.” – 37 C.F.R. § 202.1(a)
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ANOTHER TYPE OF IP MAY HELP HERE
• Trademarks
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ORIGINALITY OF LABELS/SLOGANS
• TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THESE COPYRIGHTABLE?
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OVERLAP BETWEEN TYPES OF IP
• Copyrights and Trademarks
• Copyrights and Patents
• Copyrights and Trade Secrets
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Earth Flag
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WORKS OF AUTHORSHIP
• See s. 102(a) (1)-(8)
• Overlapping?
• Exclusive?