RE: Protecting Ideas

Not legal advice, and perhaps apocryphyl, but unless the design is entitled to protection as a work of visual arts, a short enough phrase to be printed on a bumper sticker probably is not sufficient to be entitled to copyright protection. I recall an old truth that the shortest legally copyrighted work was a 12 word "poem" by Archibald MacLeish: "Pity the poor hippopotamus, That cannot tell its top from its bottomus." But I could be wrong.  

Michael R. Graham
From Chicago  

-----Original Message-----
From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property [mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of Larry Jenks Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 4:00 PM To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property Subject: [CNI-(C)] Protecting Ideas

I am a newbie, and although I have read many posts from this website, I really have no background/experience in the area of intellectual property rights. But I'm pretty sure this is an easy question...

I have come up with an idea for a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. The value of the idea is really in the words used to convey the idea, not the graphic design of the words and the way they are printed/colored/shaped or otherwise composed or presented. Is there any way to protect this idea?

Larry D. Jenks AIA, CSI, NCARB

JNX Group, LLC
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