Copyrightable

Originality -- § 102(a)
Fixation -- § 102(a)
Expression -- § 102(b)
Formalities
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Copyrightable
Copyrightability – Originality
•  “(a) Copyright protection subsists, in
accordance with this title, in original
works of authorship fixed in any
tangible medium of expression, now
known or later developed, from which
they can be perceived, reproduced,
or otherwise communicated, either
directly or with the aid of a machine
or device.” 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)
Copyrightability – Originality
•  Originality
•  Independent Creation
• no novelty requirement
• authorship
•  and Modicum Creativity
• very low threshold
• care about artistic merit?
• care about amount of effort?
Copyrightability – Originality
Copyrightability – Originality
Copyrightability – Originality
•  What about Facts?
•  Feist v. Rural Telephone Service
•  Rural has white/yellow pages for
NW Kansas
• phone numbers in alpha order
• include town and phone number
•  Feist makes area wide that includes
NW Kansas
Copyrightability – Originality
•  Feist v. Rural Telephone Service
•  What are they
trying to
protect?
•  look at
what was
copied
Copyrightability – Originality
•  Feist v. Rural Telephone Service
•  names?
• not independent creation
•  phone numbers?
• modicum of creativity???
•  alphabetical listing
• compilations can be protectable
Copyrightability – Originality
•  Feist v. Rural Telephone Service
•  Complation of facts protectable if
compilation is original
• modicum of creativity can be
found in
• selection
• order
• arrangement
Copyrightability – Originality
•  Can have multiple copyrights in a
single work
•  particular fragments
• fake phone number
•  levels of abstraction
• compilation
Copyrightability – Originality
Copyrightability – Fixation
•  “(a) Copyright protection subsists, in
accordance with this title, in original
works of authorship fixed in any
tangible medium of expression, now
known or later developed, from which
they can be perceived, reproduced,
or otherwise communicated, either
directly or with the aid of a machine
or device.” 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)
Copyrightability – Fixation
•  “A work is “fixed” in a tangible medium of
expression when its embodiment in a copy or
phonorecord, by or under the authority of the
author, is sufficiently permanent or stable to
permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or
otherwise communicated for a period of more
than transitory duration. A work consisting of
sounds, images, or both, that are being
transmitted, is “fixed” for purposes of this title if a
fixation of the work is being made
simultaneously with its transmission.”
17 U.S.C. § 101
Copyrightability – Fixation
•  Hypotheticals
• Text Message
• Deleted Word Document
• Live rock concert
• Football game broadcast
• This lecture
•  Why require this?