Re: Attribution is not required in publicdomainmaterials

>>> keleti[_at_]manifesto.com 06/05/03 07:39AM >>> wrote:
But taking credit for a symphony, painting, novel or play WOULD be a false designation of origin. Under the Lanham Act it's not necessary, for example, the credit the songwriters to a musical work, but if one does undertake the attribution, if must be completely accurate. Under Lamothe v. Atlantic Recording Corp., 847 F.2d 1403 (9th Cir. 1988), a song had three writers, but only two were credited. That was held to be a violation; although literally true, the attribution was to two actual writers, the suppression of the third was improper. Because the work at issue in Lamothe was still covered by copyright, the Dastar decision does not affect it, but it would be a different matter using your hypothetical examples, since those are public domain works. <<<<<

I respectfully disagree with Martin on this point. I think Dastar implicitly overrules Lamothe. Dastar says the word "origin" in the Lanham Act means the source of tangible goods, not the creator of a work. If that's true, then there is no statutory basis for an action in Lamothe.

Tyler T. Ochoa
Professor and Co-Director
Center for Intellectual Property Law
Whittier Law School
3333 Harbor Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 444-4141, ext. 243
(714) 444-1854 (fax)
tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu

EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2003:
Professor of Law
High Tech Law Institute
Santa Clara University School of Law
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
(408) 554-4767
(408) 554-4426 (fax)
ttochoa[_at_]scu.edu Received on Sat Jun 07 2003 - 01:47:43 GMT