tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post112484475870668656..comments2024-03-15T11:42:21.265-04:00Comments on The Patry Copyright Blog: Football and the Idea-Expression DichotomyWilliam Patryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1124932622143897252005-08-24T21:17:00.000-04:002005-08-24T21:17:00.000-04:00Wow, no spell check on this blog! It's "movements...Wow, no spell check on this blog! It's "movements" instead of "movents" and it's "mixture" instead of "misture." "Misture" doesn't seem to mean anything according to the web dictionaries - - but it sounds like something "of the mist" and so it could be a good choice of language to combinations of law and fact after all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1124931665934110372005-08-24T21:01:00.000-04:002005-08-24T21:01:00.000-04:00You are right in suggesting that I was focused on ...You are right in suggesting that I was focused on the legal requirements. Many cases and the statute itself gloss over the autorial component and the expressive aspect to content that can be protected by copyright. Dichotomies work well in pushing the analysis all the way to one side or the other. This idea-expression dichotomy is like a simple "on/off" switch. But thinking in terms of dichotomy is almost counter-productive to resolving the tough middle ground situations. Football plays, yoga sequences and forms, tai chi movents and some forms or choreography, just like lists for Yellow Pages or bibliographies are complex problems in terms of qualification for copyright protection. Figuring out the answer is probably a dreaded misture of law and fact.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1124905145452138282005-08-24T13:39:00.000-04:002005-08-24T13:39:00.000-04:00I have repaired the link to the Reed case so you s...I have repaired the link to the Reed case so you should now be able to access it.William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1124904290052686402005-08-24T13:24:00.000-04:002005-08-24T13:24:00.000-04:00Yep, that's why I was surprised Judge Schwarzer di...Yep, that's why I was surprised Judge Schwarzer didn't even cite BakerWilliam Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1124900299562321692005-08-24T12:18:00.000-04:002005-08-24T12:18:00.000-04:00Isn't the more substantial (and more judicially ad...Isn't the more substantial (and more judicially administrable point) of Baker that you can't copyright a useful system (such as blank forms for a system of accounting)? Going back to your yoga discussion and the football discussion above, that's the type of thing Baker said is eligible for patent, not copyright.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1124895959280877052005-08-24T11:05:00.000-04:002005-08-24T11:05:00.000-04:00Joshua:What I was trying to say, and maybe you too...Joshua:<BR/><BR/>What I was trying to say, and maybe you too, is that there is really one one inquiry: is there protectible material or not? My emphasis on the fact nature of the inquiry (and I may have gone too far rhetorically in knocking the legal principle side of things) is to figure out who does the deciding, the court or the jury?William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1124863721775855232005-08-24T02:08:00.000-04:002005-08-24T02:08:00.000-04:00Maybe the inquiry isn't within the idea-expression...Maybe the inquiry isn't within the idea-expression dichotomy but in the meaning of "expression" standing on its own. The distinction isn't to be found in the "idea" part because it isn't part of the copyrighted subject matter. I would say the content, the copyrightable subject matter, must constitutionally be in some manner an autorial expression in a fixable form. Choreography even its most abstract forms and even as a "victory dance" has that autorial and communicative intent. The movement in footbal plays communicates nothing when fixed or otherwise. It just moves the ball in the context of a game. Tai Chi - - now there's a tougher case than football or Yoga that you could use in one of your exams because each movement is intended as a story fitting within the sequences selected by the master.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com