Re: Was Judge Hand good for (c)-law?

It might be easier to look at the novelty versus originality issue not in terms of poetry but in perhaps the products of a lesser muse - humor. It is not unusual for individuals to come up with incredibly similar jokes, especially if they spoof a public figure or a current event. Or even similarity of plot or circumstances. The basic test is whether the individual who produced the supposedly infringing copy would likely have had access to the original work. In view of the popularity of Keats it would be hard to prove that anyone writing a word for word poem didn't have access.

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S. Warwick
swarwick[_at_]sprynet.com