Law Commons^™

The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act At Twenty: Has Full Protection Made A Difference?, David Shipley

Scholarly Works

Even though our copyright statutes were silent about architecture until 1990, it was well established that plans, blueprints and models were copyrightable writings under the 1909 Act's category of "drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character," and then as "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works" under the 1976 Act. The scope of an architect's copyright protection was, however, quite limited. The unauthorized copying of plans or blueprints constituted infringement, but most authorities concluded that plans were not infringed by using them, without the architect's permission, to construct the building they depicted. Moreover, the prevailing view was that an …

A Dangerous Undertaking Indeed: Juvenile Humor, Raunchy Jokes, Obscene Materials And Bad Taste In Copyright, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

Some of the most important statements in our nation’s rich copyright jurisprudence were written by Justice Holmes over a century ago in Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co.,a case holding that circus posters were entitled to copyright protection.

In Bleistein, Justice Holmes stated that “[i]t would be a dangerous undertaking for persons trained only to the law to constitute themselves final judges of the worth of [writings, illustrations, music and other forms of expression] outside of the narrowest and most obvious limits.” This announced what has been called the principle of “aesthetic non-discrimination.

“Pull My Finger Fred,” and many other …