COPYRIGHT LAW 2006 CLASS 6 Jan

Fairness Feist CB p. 121: “It may seem unfair that much of the fruit of the compiler’s labor may be used by others without compensation” Do you agree?

CCC Information Services v. Maclean Hunter Copyrightability of the Automobile Red Book – Official Used Car Valuations

BellSouth Advertising v. Donnelley CB p. 153 Describe the reasoning of the lone dissenting judge? Who is right, in your opinion, the majority or the ?

Hypo Emily makes five plastic signs. Two say “For Sale” and three say “For Rent”. She arranges them in order of descending size and packages them as a set. She argues that they are copyrightable as a compilation. Should this argument succeed? Why or why not?

Another Hypo Jon compiles a list of all 50 states. Can she argue that her list is copyrightable? What if Jon compiles a list of the 12 states containing the best dressed models? Does it matter if Jon arranges the states in alphabetical order?

HYPO: FURNITURE DESIGNS Can an arrangement of furniture in a showroom be copyrightable? See Baldine v. Furniture Comfort Corp., 956 F. Supp. 580 (M.D.N.C. 1996)

OTHER KINDS OF COMPILATIONS Can a greeting card be copyrightable as a compilation? See Roth v. United Card Co., 429 F.2d 1106 (9th Cir. 1970) Can a T-shirt be copyrightable as a compilation? See Matthews v. Freeman, 157 F.3d 25 (1st Cir. 1998) p. 139 CB Can a videogame be copyrightable as a compilation? Atari v. Oman, 979 F.2d 242 (D.C. Cir. 1992) p. 138 CB