Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.
use as a font.” Second Request, Oman decl. at 8. In fact, a complete “Cyberpunk” typeface that shares the Work’s aesthetic is currently available online for others to use.[1] The Work’s use of serifs, blurring/smearing, or other minor aesthetic flourishes reflect only “mere variations of uncopyrightable letters or words, which in turn are the building blocks of expression.” Compendium (Third) § 906.4.
CDP suggests that the Office would register the Work if it was placed along the edge of a dinner plate, referencing a case in which an uncopyrightable arrangement of familiar shapes were included on dinnerware. Second Request, Oman decl. at 6 (citing Homer Laughlin China Co. v. Oman, No. 90-3160, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10680 (1991)). This hypothetical does not account for Congress’s policy decision to not include typeface as copyrightable subject matter, even if it would otherwise register ornamental designs on plates, flatware, or other useful articles. H.R. Rep. No. 94–1476 at 55, 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5659, 5668 (referencing copyrightability of ornamental designs on chairs and flatware). In any case, the Board necessarily limits its decision on the submitted deposit, not on hypothetical variations of the Work.
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.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated herein, the Review Board of the United States Copyright Office affirms the refusal to register the copyright claim in the Work. Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 202.5(g), this decision constitutes final agency action in this matter.
A personal signature appears here
U.S. Copyright Office Review Board
Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights
Catherine Zaller Rowland, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director, Public Information and Education
Kimberley Isbell, Deputy Director of Policy and International Affairs
- ↑ Lyon ArtZ, Cyberpunk, (last visited May 5, 2020), https://www.fonts4free.net/cyberpunk-font.html.
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