Example:
• Lori Lewis submits a logo consisting of two letters linked together and facing each other in a mirror image, and two unlinked letters facing each other and positioned perpendicular to the linked letters. The registration specialist will refuse to register this work because letters alone cannot be registered, and there is insufficient creativity in the combination and arrangement of these elements. See Coach, Inc. v. Peters, 386 F. Supp.2d 495, 498 (S.D.N.Y. 2005).
913.2 Application Tips for Trademarks, Logos, and Labels
When completing an application for a trademark, logo, or label, applicants should describe the pictorial, graphic, or sculptural authorship that the author contributed to the work. Applicants should avoid using vague terms, such as "trademark design," "trade dress design," "mark," "logo," "logotype," or "symbol." Likewise, applicants should avoid using the following terms which may be questioned by the registration specialist: "composite work," "collective work," "selection and arrangement," "look and feel," "distinctive," "distinctiveness," "totality of design," or "total concept and feel."
914 Catalogs
For purposes of copyright registration, catalogs are considered compilations of information or collective works that contain written descriptions and/or pictorial depictions of two or three-dimensional products. Catalogs generally contain copyrightable pictorial and/or literary authorship, and they also may contain copyrightable authorship in the selection, coordination, and/or arrangement of copyrightable or uncopyrightable elements.
The photographs within a catalog may be registered together with the catalog as a whole (i) if the photographs and the catalog were created by the same author, or (ii) if the copyright claimant owns all of the rights in the photographic authorship and compilation authorship that the author contributed to the catalog. However, a claim in the photographs does not extend to the actual works or objects depicted in those images.
A catalog may be registered as a compilation of photographs or a collective work consisting of photographs if there is a sufficient amount of creative expression in the author's selection, coordination, and/or arrangement of the images. However, a catalog is not considered a compilation of the works or objects depicted in those photographs, nor is it considered a collective work consisting of the works or objects depicted therein. Accord Registration of Claims to Copyright, 77 Fed. Reg. 37,605, 37,606 (June 22, 2012). As a result, a registration for a catalog generally does not extend to the works or objects shown in that work, even if they are eligible for copyright protection and even if the claimant owns all of the rights in those works or objects. Instead, the registration extends only to the pictorial authorship involved in creating the images, and the authorship involved in selecting, coordinating, and/or arranging those images within the catalog as a whole.
Chapter 900 : 26
12/22/2014
