Re: Aphorisms and Copyright

On Aug 24, 1998, Moritz Roettinger <moritz.roettinger[_at_]dg23.cec.be> wrote:
>
> Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Length of text is a criterion for copyright protection in the US.
> >
> > "The following are examples of works not subject to copyright and
> > applications for registration of such works cannot be entertained:
> >
> > (a) Words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans;"
> >
> > 37 CFR 202.1(a).
>
> With regard to slogans (advertising slogans), is there a rule
> (established by jurisprudence) concerning the necessary amount of
> words in order that they can be protected by copyright law?

To my knowledge there are no cases identifying any minimum number of words needed for copyrightability. It's likely that in any given case the answer will rest more on originality than numbers. For example, in Perma Greetings v. Russ Berrie, 598 F. Supp. 445 (1984), the U.S. district court for E.D. Missouri held that such cliched phrases as "Along the way take time to smell the flowers" are not protected by copyright. In the Foxworthy case discussed earlier, there is at least the intimation that original one-liners may be copyright protected. In Narell v. Freeman, 872 F.2d 907, 912 (1989) the Ninth Circuit stated that the first two lines of Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" ("Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere..") was probably protectible by copyright. I would go so far as to argue that Ogden Nash's poem "Icebreaking", consisting of only 7 words ("Candy Is Dandy, But Liquor Is Quicker") is worthy of copyright protection (raising, of course, the issue of whether I have a fair use privilege to reproduce the entire poem for this illustrative purpose). In short, even short phrases may be protectible by copyright if they evidence a modicum of creativity and aren't stock or commonplace.

Howard G. Zaharoff
<hgz[_at_]buslaw128.com> Received on Tue Aug 25 1998 - 13:09:30 GMT