Materials Not Creative Enough to be
Protected.
No lines are drawn by the law between what is creative
enough to be protected by copyright and what is not
creative enough. Only cases and statutes tell us what
is or is not creative enough. The Copyright Act says,
In no case does copyright 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. 5
Idea/Expression
Dichotomy.
You hear the phrase "freedom of expression" as
describing the First Amendment right. It is really the
freedom to communicate facts and ideas that the First
Amendment protects. 6 Copyright law protects the expression of
facts and ideas, not the ideas and facts themselves.
Works that have not been fixed to a tangible medium are
just ideas. Ideas are fair game for everyone to express
in their own words. And ideas have been stolen since
the dawn of art and literature. Here are some examples
7 :
- Canterbury Tales by Chaucer took ideas from the Italian author, Boccaccio.
- Shakespeare took plots for 90 Percent of his greatest plays from other authors.
- Dimitri Yernetz wrote a series of books about a young magician under the title Tanya Grotter, written after J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter.
- Cameron Crowe's movie Vanilla Sky was a
remake of a 1997 Spanish movie called Open Your
Eyes. Penelope Cruz starred in both.
Works with
Expired Copyrights ("Public Domain").
When a copyright expires, the work is said to fall or
merge into the "Public Domain." This means the work is
no longer protected and anyone can copy, distribute,
display, or perform the work. Any work that was created
or published before 1923 is now in the Public Domain.
Many works created much later than 1923 are also in the
public domain because certain formalities required by
law at the time were not satisfied. There are other
ways works can wind up in that category. Any work
created by the federal government is automatically in
the Public Domain. 8 Anyone can also donate their works to the
Public Domain by providing a statement that anyone may
copy the work.
For more detail about the duration of copyrights and the Public Domain, see:
Public Domain and Duration
of Copyrights
Public Domain Chart
Public Domain
Resources
Work that is
Copied as Fair Use.
There is a limited exception to the author or artist's
monopoly over the use of works. If the purpose of
copying is for education, research, teaching, comment,
or criticism and other factors apply, the
copying may qualify as a "fair use" exception to the
prohibition of copying or other exclusive rights of
copyright. If fair use applies, permission to copy is
not required. See Fair
Use .
5 17 USC Section
102(b)
6
Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. vs. Nation
Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539, 556 (1985)
7
"What a Great Idea. Think I'll Steal it." James
Adams, The Globe and Mail. February 19, 2003. www.globeandmail.com.
8
17 USC Section 105