Re: classified advertising copyrighted?

On Wed, Nov 11, 1998, Linda M. Wilson <lmwilson[_at_]tiac.net> wrote:
>
> For a work of fiction, is incorporating actual classified ads a
> violation of copyright? Who holds the copyright on such materials:
> the newspaper in which the ads appear or the person paying for the
> ad? Is there a difference if the ads are used in a non-fiction
> piece of writing? I am a first-time poster and I thank you in
> advance for your advice.

Your question is an interesting one. Any advertising is considered the copyright property of the creator, not the publisher, so it would be the author who owns the ad, not the newspaper. Obviously, notice of copyright is no longer necessary, so lack of notice is similarly no longer fatal to a copyright interest. Two major questions would remain, however. First, classified ad writing is hardly "English", since there is a certain lingo, etc., used to keep the ad short due to word limitations. These limitations may affect the creativity level sufficiently to either make the work uncopyrightable or to make it very limited in its scope (the latter, of course, not helpful to one who exactly copies it). The second issue is fair use. If the quotation of the piece is in a non-fiction work as a part of comment, etc., the use may well be a fair use. While I am always reluctant to advise someone to make a use which would have to be defended as a fair use if ever contested, there are situations where that is appropriate.

A discussion with a good copyright attorney is in order if you intend to go forward, so that the details can be more fully considered. If you are dealing with a publisher, the publisher should be able to review this properly in their pre-publication review of legal issues.

Stephen Grant, Esq.
Akron, Ohio
<kgrant[_at_]neo.rr.com> Received on Sat Nov 28 1998 - 14:02:29 GMT