COPYRIGHT - M02T03

Flashcards covering the concepts of protected expression, unprotected ideas, and related legal doctrines in copyright law.

Idea Expression Dichotomy

The critical divide between copyright protectable expression and unprotected ideas; ideas are not protected under copyright, only original expression is.

Section 102 of Copyright Law

Establishes the parameters for what does not qualify as a copyright protectable work.

Unprotected Idea

Includes ideas and facts; however, the protectability of facts depends on how they were derived.

Market Value of a Car (Based on Opinion)

Considered a protected expression because it involves creator choice or judgment, making it more than just a simple fact.

Recipe Lists of Ingredients

Often considered unprotectable facts due to a lack of expression and originality, sometimes even defined as a process without protection.

Chronological Dates

Considered facts, but a listing of significant events might serve as a basis for an originality claim if the criteria for choices were sufficiently original.

Computer Code

Not necessarily a fact, but presents a challenge due to its functional nature; some code can be protected, but special rules apply.

FIEST Decision

Established that only the original arrangement, selection, or coordination of a fact-based work cannot be copied.

Naturally Occurring Elements

Their actual appearance is not an expression under copyright; depicting a naturally occurring element does not grant the artist the right to stop others from depicting similar elements, as long as they don't copy the original artist's work.

Thin Copyright

Refers to the weak protection afforded to compilations where facts or realistic appearances can be used by others, prohibiting only virtually identical reproductions.

Baker v. Selden

A Supreme Court case that, while not rejecting copyright for forms per se, found that highly functional forms (like accounting sheets) lacking choice are not protectable expression.

Compendium of Copyright Office Practices

An administrative manual providing guidance on copyright office practices; it is citable as an authority but not binding on the courts.

Blank Forms (Simple Forms)

are not copyrightable because they are designed for recording information and do not in themselves convey information.

Use of Art

The practice of a described system (e.g., an accounting system) which cannot be protected by copyright, even if the expression explaining the system is protected.

Lotus Development Corp v. Borland

The Supreme Court explained that the teachings of science and the rules and methods of useful art have their final end in application and use. And this application and use are what the public derive from the publication of the book which teaches them. The description of the art in a book, though entitled to the benefit of copyright, lays no foundation for an exclusive claim to the art itself. The object of the one is explanation. The object of the other is use. The former may be secured by copyright. The latter can only be secured if it can be secured at all, by letters patent.

Doctrine of Merger

When the idea and its expression are inseparable, copying the expression will not be barred; the idea and expression have merged.

Herbert Rosenthal Jewelry Corp versus Kalpakian

Case about jeweled b pin designs. the court held that when the idea and its expression are inseparable, copying the expression will not be barred. In short, the idea of a jeweled bee pin and its expression have merged.

Toksvig v. Bruce publications

A 1950 case which the Court in holding rejects because it, along with several other cases cited by the court, held that original research was copyright protectable

Holling versus Universal Studios

Case about the Hindenburg explosion. Court in holding rejects research was copyright protectable

Miller v Universal Studios

A case involving the unauthorized use of a true crime book, 'eighty three Hours to Dawn', used by the defendants to create a made for TV movie.

Corbello versus Valle

Case about the unauthorized use of historical information, in this time from an unpublished autobiography by Tommy DiPieto, who was a member of the Four Seasons.

Warner versus RDR books

J. K. Rowling sued the author of the Harry Potter lexicon, Stephen Van Der Arck, for copyright infringement.

Castle Rock Entertainment versus Carroll Publishing

Case about a trivia book concerning the TV series Seinfeld infringed the copyright in the scripts and shows of the series.