Ownership COPY Flashcards
Two originality requirements
Independent creation + bare minimum of creativity (Feist)
Six not-requirements to originality
- difficulty/effort (sweat of the brow) - Feist
- novelty - Sheldon
- intended originality - Bell
aesthetic quality - Bleistein
non-commerciality
lawfulness - Mitchell
Case standing for the aesthetic neutrality principle
Bleistein
Case: Inadvertent variations from an original work are sufficient to make a copy copyrightable.
Bell
Case: The use of table format for accounting was a method of operation (only way to do it) and not copyrightable.
Baker v Selden
Challenges to originality are rare, except in the following medium:
photographs
3 ways to establish originality of photographs
Case: Mannion
- Rendition (angle, lighting, aperture, exposure, filters)
- Timing (right place, right time)
- Composition (including creation of subject, but not subject matter generally)
If the photograph is original in rendition or timing, copyright protects:
{image, subject, both}?
image, not subject
If the photograph is original in creation of the subject, copyright protects:
{image, subject, both}?
both
Does a photographer who helped a monkey take selfies have copyright in the monkey’s photos?
no, he didn’t control rendition, timing, or composition of the photos
Case: David Slater
What does the originality requirement mean for derivative works?
For a derivative work to meet the originality requirement, the expression in the derivative work must:
- constitute a “substantial variation” from the original work, and
- the new artist’s copyright extends only to the material contributed
What section tells you that ideas aren’t protectable?
§ 102(b)
“In no case does © protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work”
Are ideas, concepts, principles, or theories protectable?
No (eg, Hoehling – historical theories)
Are facts/discoveries protectable?
No (eg, Nash)
Are procedures, processes, systems, or methods of operation protectable?
No (eg, Lotus — menu hierarchies; recipes; dictionary tabs)