----- Original Message -----
From: "Cindy Marston" <Cindy.Marston@xxxxxxxx>
A student asked to copy the check and letter for a research paper she
was writing. We are assuming that the letter is protected by copyright
because it is an original work. But is a check protected by copyright?
While this is just circumstantial, some countries require printed matter to
have a certain level of artistic or original quality to them to be protected
by copyright law. They need to be an intellectual achievement. The more
generic something printed is, the less copyright protection it will have.
This applies for example in Sweden, where, say a form letter from your bank
to all it's customers, would probably not be protected by copyright laws
with the same strength as a Stephen King book (in stead, it could be
protected by the trade & business secrecy law, since it's illegal to
re-publish certain inside types of information, and also privacy laws since
some kinds of personal information are not allowed to be kept publicly).
Some checks have artwork or a corporate logo, which probably in many
situations would enjoy copyright protection if singled out and used in
another context. But the image of an really old and complete check in a
school reasearch paper - I would not want to be CEO of the bank who charged
a student with copyright infringement for displaying a 80 year old check.
Unless I wanted to write a book on bad publicity later.
Of course, IANAL AIDPOOTV.
Greetings from Glenn Folkvord
Manager, Hyperion Media - arts & culture development
glenn@xxxxxxxxxxxx