Copyright and Trademark: Titles, Words & Short Phrases
{4:12 minutes to read} It is a truism among intellectual property lawyers that no matter how often one may encounter discussion of a “copyrighted word” or a “copyrighted phrase”—and this notion appears frequently in media—copyright law generally does not protect titles, words, slogans or phrases.[1]
In the United States, the Code of Federal Regulations specifically lists “[w]ords and short phrases such as names, titles and slogans” as examples of works not subject to copyright, and directs the Copyright Office not to register them.[2] However, U.S. courts have occasionally suggested that copyright claims in short phrases might be viable in exceptional cases, provided that the phrase “exhibits sufficient creativity.”[3] Read more