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Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone: Notes + Questions
Notes and Questions
1. Even on a sweat-of-the-brow theory, there is a decent argument that Rural didn’t have to sweat very much. But if originality rather than investment of labor is the basis for copyright protection, then some who labor will not be rewarded with a copyright. Take Jeweler’s Circular Publishing Co., quoted in Feist. The plaintiff published a 326-page directory of jewelers, Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades. It obtained the information in the directory at great effort, by writing to a large number of jewelers. The defendant – according to the court, at least – skipped this work by copying from the plaintiff’s book rather than by doing its own research. Presumably, after Feist, there is no copyright in books like Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades. Does this result make sense? Without copyright, will telephone books and jewelers’ directories cease to exist because no one will invest in creating them?
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