Re: Copyright in Fireworks

On 10/6/98, Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> On 10/5/98, Michael Scarpitti <mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org> wrote:
> >
> > This is absurd. A fireworks display itself cannot be "fixed". It
> > cannot, therefore, be copyrighted. It would be like trying to
> > copyright solar flares. The programming or script can be, though.
>
> If the fixed representation of how the fireworks are to be displayed
> is copyrightable, then, of course, it follows that the public
> performance/display right is protected. I'm not sure which act
> (performance or display) best fits, but one or both should. Moreover,
> you could fix the display by filming or taping it if you wished.

I generally agree with Bob's analysis, but I also strongly feel that Michael is right that the result is absurd (or at least very troubling). It seems to me that there is just something so inherently "public" about a fireworks display that permitting a copyright owner to restrict filming or photography (even for commercial purposes) seems horribly intrusive. Unlike a ballet or other type of performance, a fireworks display (at least the big, fourth-of-july, "oooh, aaaah" kind that I'm thinking of) is part of the physical environment -- it happens outside, for all to see, and may be hard to avoid. Restricting the ability to replicate such public features of the physical environment seems troubling to me. (An analogy might be the exemption in the Act for photographing architectural works that are visible to the public.) Perhaps this public aspect might inform a fair use analysis?

--
Joe Liu, Climenko Teaching Fellow 
Harvard Law School Langdell 175B
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 496-3141; liu3[_at_]law.harvard.edu
http://www.buyerszone.com/personal/jpl/index.html