Re: copyright/ plastic surgeon

From: Laura N. Gasaway <unclng[_at_]email.unc.edu>
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 13:58:21 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)

On Thu, 22 May 1997, Carl Oppedahl <carl[_at_]oppedahl.com> wrote:
>
> On 05/21/97, G. de Bruin <blueger[_at_]worldaccess.nl> wrote:
> >
> > Can anyone tell me if a plastic surgeon (in the USA) has a copyright
> > on his work?
>
> Under US law, any work of originality fixed in a tangible medium is
> protected by copyright. This is so regardless of whether the creator of
> the work places a plainly visible copyright notice on the work.
>
> > So, if he or she gives you eg. a new face, is that work protected as
> > a copyrightwork?
>
> Well, it surely satisfies the requirement of having been fixed in a
> tangible medium. Then the only remaining question is whether the work
> is original.
>
> If the patient came in with a photo and said "give me a nose like that
> one," and if the surgeon were to comply, then arguably nothing original
> has been added by the surgeon.
>
> > And if so, how does that relates to the operated person?
>
> I suspect that absent a writing on the subject, the patient would have
> an implied license to the face. In other words, the surgeon could not
> sue the patient for copyright infringement if the patient were to use
> the face for the things that faces are regularly and customarily used
> for. I can hazard a guess that this implied license would go so far as
> to permit the patient to authorize others to photograph the patient's
> face.
>
> Of course, for anyone who actually cares about this for their own
> situation, I strongly suggest consulting competent intellectual property
> counsel.

     But isn't a face a useful item? How does one deal with the idea/expression dichotomy? Perhaps if the surgeon inserts something totally useless on the "new face"?

Lolly

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Laura N. Gasaway			Phone:  919-962-1049
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Chapel Hill, NC 27599 Received on Tue May 27 1997 - 18:13:52 GMT