Re: Aphorisms and Copyright

On Wed, August 19, 1998, Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> On 8/18/98, Howard G. Zaharoff <hgz[_at_]buslaw128.com> wrote:
> >
> > As for the potential copyrightable of short works (in this case,
> > one-liners) see Foxworthy v. Custom Tees, 879 F. Supp 1200, 1219.
>
> Unfortunately, Foxworthy does not address the copyrightable subject
> matter issue of the jokes. The defendant in Foxworthy apparently
> contended: (1) because one of plaintiff's books was a compilation, the
> registration did not cover the components of the compilation and (2) the
> jokes were not original to plaintiff. The court found both assertions
> to be without merit, but the court never discussed the copyrightability
> of short jokes. One wonders why. Was it the incompetence of defense
> counsel, or was there something else going on?

I haven't reread the decision lately, but as I recall, the court found that the phrase YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK IF ... had become a service mark of Foxworthy and defendant's unauthorized use of that phrase alone was sufficient to support an injunction, quite apart from any copyright issues.

Bob Cumbow
Perkins Coie LLP
cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com
206-583-8566 Received on Thu Aug 20 1998 - 22:21:52 GMT