Re: classified advertising copyrighted?

On 11/28/98, Stephen Grant <kgrant[_at_]neo.rr.com> wrote:
>
> 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).

I would tend to disagree with such a sweeping generalization that classified ad writing is hardly "English". One of Dorothy Parker's most famous poems, "News Item" is only one line long. Limerics and haiku are short, but no less deserving of copyright protection than epics. The creativity involved in classified ads varies tremendously. Some, like certain real estate ads of the genre, "2 BA, 2 BA, den, $2K, (999) 555-1234" fit the description, but others are much more creative, and the space limitation _contributes_ to the originality.

Actually, the original poster's query is not purely hypothetical. There's an entertaining 'zine I heard about in the Los Angeles Times called "Do You Like Pina Coladas" (the title is taken from the first line of the chorus a popular song called "Escape"--written and recorded by Rupert Holmes, commonly known as "The Pina Colada Song").

The author of DYLPC culled personal ads from various newspapers, and arranged them thematically; she also included some commentary, including her methodology and some observations on the subject. The various ads demonstrate originality and creativity, although there is also some similarity. Copying or independent creation? Good question, which might come up if she were ever sued over it, as would questions of fair use. My only point is that brevity and the genre are not necessarily limiting factors for originality, creativity, and copyrightability. Of course the copyright belongs to the author (advertiser in this instance), not the newspaper; whether reprinting such ads in their entirety is legal is debatable.

BTW, if you're interested in your own copy, write:

Allison Hoff
Post Office Box 90282
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
$1.50/copy

M.

S. Martin Keleti
COHEN AND COHEN
740 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3339
(323) 938-5000 (tel)
(323) 936-6354 (fax)
keleti[_at_]manifesto.com

***PLEASE NOTE NEW AREA CODE*** Received on Mon Nov 30 1998 - 19:52:23 GMT