Steve Slatin on mon 10 jan 05
Wayne --
Let me bore you a little with my somewhat rusty
recollection of intellectual property rights.
Trademarks are easy -- Words, symbols, pictures, or
combinations of these may be trademarked if they fall
into the categories of (1) ordinary marks, (2)
certification marks, or (3) distinguishing guises.
An ordinary mark is something that distinguishes the
product (or it's business). They Chevrolet "bow tie"
is one such example. A certification mark is an
immediately recognizable image that indicates
something meets a certain standard. The outline of a
cotton ball used to indicate 100% cotton is a
certification mark. A distinguishing guise is
something like the coke-bottle shape (if you're old
enough to remember when coke came in glass bottles)
that is immediately recognizable as containing a
particular product.
Copyright is somewhat different. The basic rule is
"tangible, original expression." The tests are -- is
the information 'fixed'? (Until a poem is written
down or taped or whatever, it can't be copyrighted
because is doesn't meet the tangibility test. Until a
song is recorded or the melody is written down, it's
not tangible.) Is the work an "original expression?"
(An original expression can include lengthy quotations
from either public domain or other copyrighted works,
so this one's a little vague.) Finally, is it
minimally creative? A work doesn't need to be too
terribly creative to meet this test. Someone
(possibly Roland Kirk) was once challenged on a
copyright for a song he wrote that had only one note.
He defended it successfully.
Ideas, facts, words, short phrases, etc. cannot be
copyrighted. (And, in order to spare everyone yet
another repititious exchange over fair use, I hereby
resist the temptation to bring it up.)
Last intellectual property issue -- patents. "Any new
and useful process, machine, manufacture, or
composition of matter, or any new and useful
improvement thereof" may be patented if it is
sufficiently novel, etc. I doubt that anything a
demonstrator does could rise to the level of a novel
process, but I suppose in theory it's possible.
All three types of intellectual property require an
effort on the part of the producer to protect the
intellectual property. Once things are in the public
domain, they stay there.
-- Steve Slatin
--- wjskw@BELLSOUTH.NET wrote:
> That's a very good question, Kim. I hadn't thought
> about it. I'm
> not a paying student (though once I was), nor am I
> an educator. I
> do attend as many workshops as I can.
>
> I don't know the answer. There is a grey area
> regarding situations
> like this. I heard the term "intellectual property"
> mentioned
> recently, but I haven't had time to research it yet.
> Can a
> technique be copyrighted or trademarked? I know
> that recorded
> materials can.
=====
Steve Slatin -- A pig is a jolly companion -- Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt. A pig is a pal, who'll keep your morale, though mountains may
topple and tilt. When they've baffled, bamboozled, and burned you -- When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig -- you may be thrown over By Tabby or Rover, but you'll never go wrong with a pig!
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