Re: autographs

On 15 Jan 2000, Sylvie Fodor <s.fodor[_at_]akg.de> wrote:
>
> I would be interested to know how, according to your opinion,
> Autographs -- meaning the photo of the signature of a person,
> dead or alive, famous or not - are to be treated?
>
> Can they be protected by copyright? Do they have to be registered
> as trademark?

The pianist Liberace had a very elaborate signature (as you might expect...) that featured a little drawing of a grand piano. You can see his signature, which is a registered trademark in the US, by going to the US PTO's site and searching for registered mark no. 1787101. And, yes, this is really how he signed his name if you asked him for an autograph; it's not some (visual) artist's creation.

I think Liberace's signature is unquestionably protectable under the copyright laws as well as by trademark, and would be curious to hear whether anyone (after looking at his signature) disagrees. Or whether anyone thinks it matters to the analysis whether or not "Liberace" was his real name, or whether he was famous; I don't.

-Ari

Ari Kahan
<akahan[_at_]netcom.com>