RE: Cook v. Robbins: Coined Phrases Protected

I agree that the Wade Cook cases raises some head-scratching questions about the principle that words and short phrases are not protected by copyright. Having read the opinion, my conclusion is that, in this case, the defendant took too MANY words and short phrases from Cook's works--so many that, in the aggregate, the court found defendant's work to be infringing. The court concentrated much of its analysis on the fact that whole sentences and paragraphs explaining some of the concepts associated with these "coined" phrases of Cook's were substantially similar to those found in Cook's own works. Thus, while no single use of a single phrase could likely have been found to infringe Cook's copyright, the weight of numbers here allowed Cook to prevail. Still, it seems to me an eminently appealable analysis.

Robert C. Cumbow
 Graham & Dunn PC
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-----Original Message-----
From: Dodi Schultz [mailto:SCHULTZ[_at_]compuserve.com] Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 9:12 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Cook v. Robbins: Coined Phrases Protected

This is a request for comment from lawyers on the list.

As a writer, I've always been told that ordinary English words, however combined, were not copyright-protected.

Now, there's a report that Wade Cook, a financial advisor and author of a 1995 book, sued Anthony Robbins, the financial-seminars guy, for picking up two phrases--"meter drop" and "rolling stock"--from Cook's book and using them in manuals for his own seminars. Cook, who had given these common phrases distinct, uncommon meanings in his book, charged Robbins with copyright infringement.

The case reportedly found its way to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which affirmed a jury verdict in favor of Cook, with an award of $655,900.

The report appears at:

       http://www.rcfp.org/news/2000/1117cookvr.html

--Dodi Schultz

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