Re: Aphorisms and Copyright

Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> On 8/19/98, Robert Cumbow <cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com> wrote:
> >
> > Why not? A cartoonist draws an illustration for a newspaper, and
> > it's protected by copyright. An aphorist writes a clever saying
> > for a newspaper and it's up for grabs? Where's the difference?
>
> Seems to me there is a sizable difference between a cartoon and a
> slogan. The cartoon has far more ways of being expresssed than does
> the short phrase.

We should not forget that size normally is not a criterium for copyright protection (at least in continental Europe). There are some Supreme Court Decisions at least in Austria and Germany which grant copyright to advertising slogans.

Moritz Roettinger

Dr. Moritz Roettinger LL.M.
European Commission, Brussels
Universities of Vienna and Saarbruecken
moritz.roettinger[_at_]dg23.cec.be Received on Fri Aug 21 1998 - 08:28:17 GMT