{"id":2857,"date":"2019-07-30T10:05:08","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T10:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2020-02-04T17:23:12","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T17:23:12","slug":"copyrightable-authorship-in-dramatic-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/2019\/07\/copyrightable-authorship-in-dramatic-works.html","title":{"rendered":"Third edition of USA copyright office compendium \u2013 Copyrightable Authorship in Dramatic Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">A dramatic work must originate from the author of that work to be protected by copyright. A dramatic work that is merely copied from another source is not copyrightable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">A dramatic work must contain a sufficient amount of creative expression.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Words and short phrases, such as names, titles, and slogans, are not copyrightable because they lack a sufficient amount of authorship. Thus, the title of a dramatic work or dialog that consists of only several words or phrases is not registrable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">A mere idea for a dramatic work \u2013 such as \u201cboy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl falls in love with someone else\u201d \u2013 is not copyrightable because mere ideas are common property.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Sc\u00e8nes \u00e0 faire are defined as elements of a dramatic work, \u201cwhich necessarily follow from a common theme,\u201d such as stock characters, settings, or events that are common to a particular subject matter or medium. These types of elements are too commonplace to be copyrightable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Derivative authorship in dramatic works occurs when copyrightable additions or other changes are made to one or more preexisting works, such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Revisions, including updating or editing dialog, scenes, and other dramatic elements of a preexisting play.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Adapting a novel or motion picture into a play or vice versa.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Translating a play from one language to another.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">In each case, the author of the derivative work must have permission to use the preexisting work if the preexisting work is protected by copyright, and there must be sufficient new original authorship to register the new work as a derivative work. If it appears that the dramatic work is based on a copyrighted work and permission to use has not been obtained, the registration specialist will communicate with the applicant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">When a novel, story, or poem is adapted into a drama, the adaptation is considered a dramatic work. The U.S. Copyright Office categorizes an adaptation of a dramatic work as a dramatic work, because the work remains dramatic in nature, even if the new material added is nondramatic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">To be considered a derivative work, an adaptation must be based on a preexisting work that constitutes copyrightable subject matter. The Office does not view plays adapted from or based on historical or present day factual events as derivative works because facts are not copyrightable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">A revised dramatic work results when an author revises or adds new dramatic material to a preexisting play. The additions or revisions may be registered as a derivative work to the extent that they contain new original authorship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">A translation of a play or other dramatic work from one language to another is a type of derivative authorship. The U.S. Copyright Office categorizes a translation of a dramatic work as a dramatic work, because the work remains dramatic in nature, even if the new material is nondramatic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The Office regularly receives applications that claim copyright in the directions for the performance of a dramatic work, separate from the dialog or other elements of that dramatic work. In most cases, the applicant is attempting to register directions for performance on a stage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Generally, stage directions are not independently copyrightable, although they may constitute an aspect of the overall dramatic work. Because stage directions are completely dependent on a particular dramatic work, a claim in stage directions must be authorized by the author of the dramatic work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The Office has long <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/docs\/Third_edition_of_USA_copyright_office_compendium.pdf\">held<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/docs\/Draft_third_edition_of_USA_copyright_office_compendium.pdf\">draft<\/a>) that copyright protection in stage directions is limited to the text of the directions themselves. When removed from the context of the dramatic work, the directions do not, in and of themselves, constitute dramatic content or give rise to a claim in the simple movements that are dictated by that text.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A dramatic work must originate from the author of that work to be protected by copyright.<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/2019\/07\/copyrightable-authorship-in-dramatic-works.html\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Third edition of USA copyright office compendium \u2013 Copyrightable Authorship in Dramatic Works<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,39,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-copyright","category-interpretation","category-law","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2858,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions\/2858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}