copyright in course design?

From: David Bozak <dab[_at_]cs.oswego.edu>
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 09:57:26 -0400

this is prompted by discussion on another list...

dog agility (you've likely seen it on Animal Planet or ESPN) is a sport where a dog and handler navigate an obstacle course designed by a judge. there are a limited number of different obstacles and there are guidelines for course design, but every course is unique, the creative use of those obstacles by a judge for a specific event/trial.

at a trial, the course is always made available in paper form to the competitors, sometimes only as a single copy posted that folks hand copy but most often as photocopies.

i think there is little doubt that the course design *on paper* is copyrighted.

but the course on paper has to be instantiated at the trial site. when we as course builders create the course, along with the judge, we try to reproduce the course as closely as possible. the course is often tweaked, as uneven ground or other conditions may require some adjustments to be made. the course as laid out is by necessity an imperfect instantiation of the course on paper. there may have been some equipment changes (a collapsed tunnel replaced by a pipe tunnel because the heavy winds make the collapsed tunnel a potential safety hazard for the dog or handler, for example).

what is the state of the *actual* course? is the design of the *actual* course protected? if so, how/why? what analogies seem best? landscape design? architectural design?

or is this an example in some sort of grey area that only litigation will resolve?

-dab
--

David Alan Bozak Associate Dean, Arts & Sciences ________|________

dab[_at_]cs.oswego.edu    SUNY Oswego, Oswego, NY 13126      ___\__(*)__/___
  315.312.2156       http://www.cs.oswego.edu/~dab           o/ \o  

   "When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl." Received on Fri Sep 07 2001 - 13:59:01 GMT