Portal:Review Board of the United States Copyright Office

“ See, e.g., 37 C.F.R. § 202.1 (a) (prohibiting registration of “ [w] ords and short phrases such as names, titles, slogans; familiar symbols or designs; [and] mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring”) ; id. § 202.10 (a) (stating “to be acceptable as a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, the work must embody some creative authorship in its delineation or form”) . Some combinations of common or standard design elements may contain sufficient creativity with respect to how they are juxtaposed or arranged to support a copyright. ”

“ The Work’s characters are unprotectable typeface with text effects. Those text effects suggest science fiction or futuristic aesthetics commonly used in typeface design. [1] CDP suggests that “it is hard to imagine a book or magazine or newspaper that is printed using such a highly stylized font as the letters found in [the Work,] ” because “ [t] hey would be very difficult to read, and ... there are only 9 of 26 letters included in the subject work [making] it is incomplete for use as a font.” ”

“ Finally, CDP argues that works with “minimal creativity” are registerable and that the Work is at least as original other works that the Office registered. Second Request at 4. The Office will not “compare ... deposit copy (ies) with other works that have been previously registered with the Office” for the purpose of granting copyright registration. Compendium (Third) § 309.1. Furthermore, the examples provided by CDP do not contain any typeface and thus are not suitable for comparison. ”

“ But the “mere use of text effects (including chalk, popup papercraft, neon, beer glass, spooky-fog, and weathered-and worn [effects] ) , while potentially separable, is de minimis and not sufficient to support a registration.” ”