tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post113077124048319628..comments2024-03-15T11:42:21.265-04:00Comments on The Patry Copyright Blog: Judge Alito and CopyrightWilliam Patryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1131510646180982862005-11-08T23:30:00.000-05:002005-11-08T23:30:00.000-05:00Out of curiosity, then, Mr. Patry, is it your view...Out of curiosity, then, Mr. Patry, is it your view that <I>West Pub. Co. v. Mead Data Centers, Inc.</I>, 799 F.2d 1219 (8th Cir. 1986)--the famous case holding that West's page numbers were copyrightable, essentially on "selection and arrangement" grounds--was wrongly decided? In that case not only was the selction and arrangement found to be protectible, if I recall correctly, but the pagination itself was also protected. Surely page numbers are even shorter than the part numbers at issue in <I>Southco</I>.<BR/><BR/>I'm not expressing a view here one way or the other -- and I may well be misremembering <I>West</I>--I'm just curious what your thoughts are on that case.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130857125532355252005-11-01T09:58:00.000-05:002005-11-01T09:58:00.000-05:00anonymous, Scalia is (IMO) a very intelligent huma...anonymous, Scalia is (IMO) a very intelligent human being, but he's apparently not somebody I'd hang out with after work.<BR/><BR/>Besides, calling a grown man, who is very accomplished in his own right, the "Mini Me" of another person can be very rude.Max Lybberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13935322217857952629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130848994052294192005-11-01T07:43:00.000-05:002005-11-01T07:43:00.000-05:00That seemed like a backhanded swipe at Scalia. So...That seemed like a backhanded swipe at Scalia. Some in the conservative circle like myself might use the term "Scalito" as a compliment. Isn't Scalia, too, a wonderful human being?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130815344410863362005-10-31T22:22:00.000-05:002005-10-31T22:22:00.000-05:00See also discussion by Laura Quilter, http://lquil...See also discussion by Laura Quilter, http://lquilter.net/blog/archives/2005/10/31/alito-on-copyright-first-amendment-cyberlawWilliam Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130792747261815742005-10-31T16:05:00.000-05:002005-10-31T16:05:00.000-05:00Article III Groupie, with her catty (but must-read...Article III Groupie, with her catty (but must-read) "Underneath Their Robes" blog has "spileld the beans" on Judge Alito's coffee:<BR/><BR/>At T.M. Ward Coffee Co. in downtown Newark, near Alito's office, the judge is known more for his taste in coffee than for his legal philosophy. Store clerk Vera Barbosa said that Alito's law clerks wanted to do something special for his birthday a few years ago, so they persuaded the store to come up with a special blend for him.<BR/><BR/>"Judge Alito's Bold Justice Blend" -- a mix of Colombian, Java and New Guinea with a bit of espresso -- remains a hot seller at the coffee shop, Barbosa said, and Alito often stops by for it - by the cup and by the pound.<BR/><BR/>"He's a great man," Barbosa said. "He's very polite. He comes in whenever he has a chance. He's very nice."William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130788166361596612005-10-31T14:49:00.000-05:002005-10-31T14:49:00.000-05:00Well said, Max. Here are some comments that a frie...Well said, Max. Here are some comments that a friend sent me and agreed to let me post:<BR/><BR/>His comment: "What about Tin Pan Apple v. Miller Brewing 30 U.S.P.Q.2d 1791 (S.D.N.Y. 1994). My understanding is that it suggested "BRR" could be copyrightable. Was the case wrongly decided? Is even a very short sequence copyrightable if original, or does the merger doctrine rule this out entirely for very short items?<BR/><BR/>His comment: I may not understand your point in this context but as a general matter it seems to me originality could reside either in what the sequence designates or the manner in which it is designated. For example, some kind of notation for choreography might be original only because of the originality of the dance moves that are represented by the notation. The translation of the dance into notation might not be a creative act (although I don't know enough about dance to say for sure). It seems to me that only when there is no authorship in either the notation nor what the notation represents would there be no claim to copyright. Similarly, to refer back to our earlier discussion of chess notation, if someone used chess notation to record how dancers would move around a large 64 square board without regard to the rules of chess and not to achieve checkmate, but just as a work of art, the chess notation might be copyrightable even though chess game scores generally are not.<BR/> <BR/>Conversely, a photograph of a mountain could be copyrightable even though the mountain is as "old as the hills."<BR/><BR/><BR/>His comment: A large listing of names and numbers seems to offer as many ways to argue for authorship as numbers assigned to parts pursuant to a numbering system. It seems implicit in Feist that some room for discretion is not the same as creativity.<BR/> <BR/>An interesting related question is at what point does a photograph of items that are not created by the photographer become so lacking in creativity that it has no copyright? For example, I have a camera set up at my front door with a motion detector and while I am away on vacation it snaps a photo of someone knocking on the door. Granted, I could have set it up from a different vantage point and with a sound detector rather than a motion detector, but my purpose was strictly security, and if short phrases and numbers are not copyrightable due to lack of creativity it seems that in some cases photographs might lack minimal creativity as well. And yet, it seems to be a rare case where anyone questions copyright on photographs.William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130786940998896522005-10-31T14:29:00.000-05:002005-10-31T14:29:00.000-05:00Well, aside from a strict constructionist, it's im...Well, aside from a strict constructionist, it's impossible to predict how a judge will rule on any particular issue, because only strict constructionism gives us a clear yardstick to measure with:<BR/><BR/>Q. What is the meaning of a “moderate” interpretation of the Constitution?<BR/>A. An interpretation halfway between what the Constitution says and what a justice would like it to say. (http://www.confirmthem.com/?p=1108).<BR/><BR/>In all honesty, it's nearly impossible to determine how any judge will rule on any issue ten years in the future. Abraham Lincoln had a hard enough time with Salmon Chase, who created the "greenback plan" as Secretary of the Treasury, and declared it unconstitutional after Lincoln put him on the Supreme Court.Max Lybberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13935322217857952629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130777461641975812005-10-31T11:51:00.000-05:002005-10-31T11:51:00.000-05:00He might be deserving of more generous marks on or...He might be deserving of more generous marks on originality given the views of others on his court, in light of the 9th Circuit's CDN case, the 11th Circuit's horrible compilation cases, the 6th Circuit's sound recording infringement case, etc. The basics don't seem as basic as they should be. <BR/><BR/>On Eldred, the split was not along the conservative - liberal lines. I'm inclined to give Congress a lot of room to pass stupid laws, and I don't even think Justice Ginsburg thought CTEA was that good an idea. To me, the problem in Eldred was petitioners' error in conceding that the initial language of the clause (I refuse to call it a preamble) did not act as a substantive limitation on Congress's powers), and Justice Ginsburg's dissing of the quid pro quo concept. <BR/><BR/>I don't know how a Justice Alito might come out on a case properly presented.William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1130776222706507082005-10-31T11:30:00.000-05:002005-10-31T11:30:00.000-05:00That Judge Alito gets good marks in Originality 10...That Judge Alito gets good marks in Originality 101 isn't much of a recommendation. I would be more interested in knowing how he would have stood on the issues raised by <I>Eldred v. Ashcroft.</I> How much constitutional leeway does Congress have to pass stupid laws ? When does sloppy Congressional thinking rise to the level of a want of reason in the legislative judgement sufficiently serious to render an act of Congress unconstitutional?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com