COPYRIGHT LAW 2004

PROFESSOR FISCHER

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

FEBRUARY 23, 2004

WRAP UP POINT: COPYRIGHTABILITY OF

TYPEFACE DESIGNS• Copyright protection for typeface designs

was deferred. The House Committee Report did not deny that typeface designs were writings”. Denied they were pictorial, graphic, sculptural works; argued they were useful articles

• Typeface designs are thus only copyrightable if they are not useful articles.

Limits on copyright for architectural works

• Copyright Act s. 120

Limits on copyright for architectural works

• Copyright Act s. 120(a) - copyright in architectural works doesn’t include “right to prevent making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place.”

Limits on copyright for architectural works

• Copyright Act s. 120(b) - owner of a building embodying an architectural work does not require owner’s consent to make alterations to the building or destroy or authorize the destruction of the building.

COPYRIGHTABILITY IN COMPUTER PROGRAMS

• CONTU Final Report (1978)

• Apple v. Franklin (3d Cir. 1983)

COPYRIGHTABILITY OF CHARACTERS

• Are characters copyrightable separate from a story in which it appears?

• If so, when?

• REMEMBER - Characters may also be trademarked!

Nicholls Test CB p. 233

• According to Learned Hand, are any/all characters copyrightable?

Nicholls Test

• According to Learned Hand, are any/all characters copyrightable? Yes, characters can be protected independent of the plot, but “the less developed the characters, the less they can be copyrighted; that is the penalty an author must bear for marking them too indistinctly.”

9th Circuit Sam Spade Test CB 234

• Did the court need to decide the issue of character copyrightability in this case?

• What rule for character copyrightability is set out in Warner Brothers v. Columbia Broadcasting System?

9th Circuit Sam Spade Test

• The story being told test - no character is protectable unless “the character really constitutes the story being told.”

Anderson v. Stallone (C.D.Cal. 1989) – CB 235

• What are the facts of this case?

• What is the issue?

• What test for copyrightability of characters does the court use?

• Are the Rocky characters copyrightable?

MGM v. American Honda (C.D.Cal. 1995)

• Is James Bond copyrightable?

• Would any tuxedo-clad Brit infringe?

DeCarlo v. Archie Comic Publications Inc.- CB 242

• Are comic book characters more or less protectable than literary characters?

King Features Syndicates (2d Cir. 1924) CB p. 243

• Did the toy “Sparky” infringe the cartoon character?

• What does the Copyright Act protect, according to the 2d Circuit? Is this stated level of protection overbroad?

Detective Comics v. Bruns (2d Cir. 1940)

• Did Wonderman infringe Superman?

• Why or why not?