Attn: Thomas Kjellberg
the Applicant's Work is a two-dimensional design that consists of an orange semi-circle, the word "it," and a simple variation of a pre-existing logo printed inside a blue rectangle. This basic arrangement of two public domain shapes, a common word, an ordinary color scheme (even including the shading effect), and an unprotectable, pre-existing logo is, at best, de minimis, and fails to meet the threshold for copyrightable authorship. Feist, 499 U.S. at 359; see also Atari Games, 888 F.2d at 883. Your repeated assertions that the Office has "misapprehended" and "disregarded" aspects of the Work that should be expressly considered as contributing to the complexity of the Work's selection and arrangement (i.e. "shading or shadowing … suggestive of depth or dimensionality") do not add to your claim of sufficient creativity. Regardless of how they are tallied or characterized, the selection and arrangement of the Work's constituent elements, as a whole, are little more than a non-creative configuration of unprotectable words, shapes, and colors designed to fit on the face of a standard credit card shape. The resulting authorship of these combinations is de minimis, and such an arrangement lacks the requisite "creative spark" necessary for registration. 499 U.S. at 359; Satava, 323 F.3d at 811.
In sum, the Board finds that both the individual elements that comprise the Work, as well as the Applicant's selection, organization, and arrangement of those elements lack the sufficient level of creativity to make it eligible for registration under the Copyright Act.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated herein, the Review Board of the United States Copyright Office affirms the refusal to register the work entitled: Discover It Design. This decision constitutes final agency action on this matter. 37 C.F.R. § 202.5(g).
Maria A. Pallante
Register of Copyrights
A personal signature appears here
William J. Roberts
Copyright Office Review Board
