Re: Copyright in Newspaper Employment Ads

From: Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu>
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 18:55:42 -0700

On 10/15/98, Anthony Meehan <mci[_at_]mediacorp2.com> wrote:
>
> I have an issue that has been on my mind for some time. Across the
> United States, there are several publications that summarize job ads
> gathered from different newspapers and trade magazines. Some of the
> publications reproduce the ads outright, organizing them by occupation
> or state; others prepare text-only abstracts of the job ads, including
> information like the employer's name and address, a description of the
> position and so on. The latter group often supplement the listings
> they write with other information they have on file about the employers.
>
> Recently, some of the newspapers have started including a clause in
> their advertising contracts granting themselves a copyright in the
> information in the employment ad. To my knowledge, the clause has
> yet to be litigated in an action against a third party.
>
> My questions are: (1) Does the original newspaper have a copyright in
> the content of an employment ad it prints? and (2) If not, can the
> newspaper rely on its advertising contract to prevent third parties
> from making use of the information?

1. To whatever extent copyright can subsist in an employment ad, and assuming that the advertisement contract is enforceable, the copyright now belongs to the newspaper. So, I'm assuming your question is directed more at the copyrightability of the ad itself or compilation of ads. As for each individual ad, it strikes me as dubious, but it depends on the contents of the ad. The more complex the expression within the ad, the more likely that copyrightability exists. The more bare-bones factual it is, the less likely. There is also the possibility of copyrightability in a compilation of ads, but, then, you'd have to prove that there is sufficient creativity in the selection, coordination, and arrangement of the ads, and even if you could demonstrate that, the putative infringer would have had to copy the compilation itself, not just the underlying components.
2. No. On what basis?

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Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu>
UCLA School of Law '98
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1206/

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Received on Sat Oct 17 1998 - 01:53:52 GMT