Re: Can a Bank Check be Copyrighted?

[Walter Dufresne <wdufresne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Ms. Marston,

If I understand correctly, you've asked a series of questions about
intellectual property law, and you might act on the basis of the
advice you get here.  Your school may or may not have legal counsel,
let alone legal counsel well-versed in intellectual property law.
Nevertheless, I'd think twice, and then twice again, about *acting*
on any kind of "legal" advice gotten from the University of
Maryland's copyright list serve group.  There aren't a whole lot of
subscribers to this group who are intellectual property attorneys,
and none of them appear to have an attorney/client relationship with
your school.

Instead, I'd listen to anecdotal experiences provided by the group's
members.  Those anecdotes are pretty darn helpful.  They'll help
inform your thinking when you finally do speak with an attorney.
Just offhand, I'd be sure to grab the .pdf from off the world wide
web of something called "Title 17" of the US Code.  The Register of
Copyrights at the US Library of Congress posts it at her web site at
<http://www.copyright.gov/title17/>, and the direct link to the
entire statute is at <http://www.copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf>.

The old bank draught appears to be from the 1920s, a time when US
Copyright laws were different than they are now.  If the bank draught
was newer, since perhaps about 1976, your attorney might conclude
that the bank draught is *not* an original work of authorship, and
thus ineligible for copyright, in light of the following from Title 17:

Section 102  Subject matter of copyright: In general (26)
(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in
original works
of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known
or later
developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise
communicated,
either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of
authorship
include the following categories:
(1) literary works;
(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;
(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;
(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;
(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
(7) sound recordings; and
(8) architectural works.
(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of
authorship
extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation,
concept,
principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is
described, explained,
illustrated, or embodied in such work.

Again, I would seriously hesitate to *act* on the basis of informal
legal advice from non-lawyers.  Instead, listen to their experiences,
and let those experiences inform your thinking when working with your
school's attorney.

Sincerely,
==============================================
 Walter Dufresne, adjunct assistant professor
Advertising Design and Graphic Arts Department
  New York City College of Technology / CUNY
   300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY  11201-2983
==============================================
31 Montgomery Place, Brooklyn, NY  11215-2342
 tel:  +1.718.622.1901  fax:  +1.718.789.1452
     e-mail:  wdufresne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
==============================================