On Tue, 26 Mar 1996, Natl. Fed. Abstracting & Info Serv. wrote:
>
> I -- along with many others, no doubt -- am confused about
> how to determine if something is in the public domain.
>
> I have been following the Dead Sea Scrolls discussion here.
> But I have also noted that my King James Bible carries a
> copyright notice, as does my Pelican Shakespeare. What
> exactly do such copyright claims mean? Do I need someone's
> permission to quote from the King James Bible?
When you look at a copyrighted work you have to ask yourself "what is copyrightable about this work?" Certain things, such as facts, cannot be copyrighted. That means that if a reporter writes a book after doing extensive research into a kidnaping where the kidnaper buries alive the victim for 83 hours, a movie can be based on the facts without paying any royalties to the reporter [an actual case].
What is copyrightable about the reporter's book is the _expression_ he used. If the book began with the victim telling a psychiatrist about the incident and the story took place in a series of flashbacks, then the movie would [probably] be infringing if it used the same format and sequence of events. In essence, it is the reporters creativity that is protected. No matter how much effort you put into something, you need a "modicum of creativity" to take advantage of a copyright (i.e., a telephone book with names listed alphabetically is not creative enough to receive copyright protection).
So what is it about a Shakespear collection that makes it copyrightable? The choice of which plays to include, editing of the plays and the preface are all possible places where the editor can contribute a modicum of creativity to his work. The actual Shakespearean plays are in the public domain and can be copied, distributed, performed, etc.
17 U.S.C. 102(b):
In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship
extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation,
concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is
described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.
17 U.S.C. 103:
(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.
(b) The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.
Morgan Malino
3L, George Washington University Law School
<morgan[_at_]gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
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