Retrospective - What is a 'Work' in Copyright?

Lawyers and the legal profession love their words and their singular interpretations, which can be quite odd from the perspective of the layman, especially when the interpretation seems quite obvious from the very beginning. Even so, we have learned to embrace this tradition, and understand that the nuanced meanings of words can have a huge impact on cases and their outcomes, and have no shame in jostling over the meanings of even the most basic of words. Intellectual property in this regard is no exception, and a word that is very important in terms of copyright is what is a 'work' protectable by copyright? As said, the answer may seem obvious and the discussion of what is a work seem a bit frivolous, but the reason why is incredibly important. What constitutes a 'work' under copyright sets up boundaries for the laws and expands or limits its application to both old and new artistic endeavors, making it one of the most important parts of interpretation when discussing the scope of copyright. Although discussed for for as long as copyright has existed, the modern definition of what a 'work' is came about in the 1960s through the hands of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.

The case in question was Ladbroke (Football) Ltd v William Hill, which dealt with two competing companies in the sphere of bookmaking. The respondents to the appeal, William Hill, were firmly established in the marketplace, sending out weekly football odds to their customers during the season. The appellants, Ladbroke, have also been well-established players in the world of bookies, and entered the football bookmaking scene in the late 1950s, sending out coupons which looked very much like the ones William Hill sent to their customers. As a result William Hill sued Ladbroke for copyright infringement, with the case culminating in the highest court of the UK in 1964.

Sisyphus, for some reason, thought his work was for naught.

The coupons which the case concerned were very simple in their design, consisting of a list of the games that week along with boxes next to each match, allowing for the person to indicate the games' outcomes and therefore to change the odds of winning, as each bet would have to be successful for the individual to win. Some of the lists provided contained all of the games that week, whereas some only contained a selection of games. William Hill's coupons contained 16 lists, while Ladbroke's coupons contained 15 lists of games. The latter lists were almost identical to William Hill's ones, with only some slight deviations in terms of headers or different odds. What was allegedly copied were the possible wagers to be made and, to a large extent at least, the layout and headers of the lists. The big question that remained was whether such lists would be a work protectable under copyright.

Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 a 'work' is defined as "...a work of any of those descriptions in which copyright subsists", which include musical, literary and artistic works, among others. That definition alone seems like not much help, but it's an important statement of what can be considered as obvious, which can be expanded upon. Although the wording differs from the Copyright Act 1956 which was at issue in the case, the considerations can be argued to applying equally to the newer 1988 Act.

The discussion in the case pertained mostly to whether such a work could be considered as an original work (more on which can be found here); however whether the sheer compilation of information into tables and lists would be a work is also quite important under this consideration. After all, even if a work is 'original', but does not qualify as a genuine 'work' (in most cases quite hard as the two are more or less intertwined), the piece would not attract copyright protection. In the end this is a determination by assessing the "...skill, judgment or labour" put into the creation of the work; or in other words, did the author of the work do anything more than the bare minimum in the creation of the work in question. Many have mentioned the very scattered approach to this question, as often judges will take into account expense, knowledge and even literary skill employed into the creation of the work; leaving the question without a definitive judicial consideration. This has been seen different in the United States, as under the Feist Publications v Rural Telephone Service decision (more on which can be found here) effort alone won't give a work protectability under copyright. In the end the appeal was dismissed by the House of Lords, and William Hill's coupons and lists were indeed protected by copyright.

As one can see what a 'work' is is quite ambiguous, and the consideration of judgment, skill and labor leaves it even more in the mist, as plain effort might not be the most accurate description or factor in deciding what truly amounts to a work or not. This uncertainty leaves short pieces and low-effort works potentially in the fringes of copyright, and can cause issues to those authors as a result. Clearly this is something which copyright should not cause, and might be a reason why the definition of a 'work' should be revisited by either the judiciary or the legislature in the future.

Retrospective - Inventive Step in Patents

Improvements on older inventions is arguably the cornerstone of technological advancement, and more often than not can be equally or even more important than the original invention. This however has to be balanced between what is truly an improvement and what is merely something presented under the guise of an improvement only to be able to control currently or formerly patented subject matter. Under the Patents Act 1977 this is a matter of assessing whether the improvement in question is an 'inventive step' under the Act. The provisions defines this as being such if "...it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art, having regard to any matter which forms part of the state of the art". Although the section is clear in its intent, the test in how this would be assessed was left to the courts to further specify on.

The case in question which tackled the inventive step, laying down the modern application of this requirement was Windsurfing International v Tabur Marine (Great Britain), decided in 1985 in the Court of Appeal. It concerned a patent which protected the design of a wind surfboard, owned by Windsurfing International. The patent essentially consisted of a surfboard to which a triangular sail was attached, providing wind propulsion for the board, and a joint allowing for the sail to move according to where the wind was coming from. The defendant was licensee of the patent, operating in the UK. The two parties subsequently fell into a dispute, after which Windsurfing International sued the defendant for patent infringement. Although the case related to the old Patents Act 1949, the principle of inventive step still applies to the current 1977 Act even though the two pieces of legislation differ.

Cowabunga, dude!

The defendant challenged the patent through their argument that there was nothing new or novel about the patent where a sail is attached to a surfboard, asserting that the patent did not involve an inventive step, therefore allowing the Court to revoke the patent. Similar designs have been published in the US and the UK in related magazines in the late 1960s, and the defendant also presented evidence where a 12-year-old boy had made a similar craft as early as 1958 in the UK, predating the patent by over a decade.

Respective of all evidence presented in the case the Court was still faced with the question of whether the patent included anything which was new, and therefore involved an inventive step, protecting it from revocation. The question was aptly answered by Justice Oliver, who subsequently postulated the test for obviousness in relation to the inventive step:

 "...[the question] has to be answered, not by looking with the benefit of hindsight at what is known now and what was known at the priority date and asking whether the former flows naturally and obviously from the latter, but by hypothesizing what would have been obvious at the priority date to a person skilled in the art to which the patent suit relates, who is assumed to have access to what was known of the art in the [UK] immediately before the priority date".

The test, in other words, is an assessment of what the new idea or concept is which is protected; who would be a skilled person in the related art and what would his knowledge be based on commonly available information in the art be at the time; what are the differences between any pre-existing art which is used in comparison; and whether the differences or improvements in the new patent would have been obvious to the aforementioned person skilled in the art. The Windsurfing test has since been further clarified in the case of Pozzoli Spa v BDMO SA, but still remains quite relevant in deciding whether a patent truly involves an inventive step or not. In the case the patent was revoked, as prior art clearly showed the patent did not involve any steps which were not obvious to a skilled person in the art, with the Court heavily relying on the evidence provided where a 12-year-old boy had preempted the design, making the creation of such a craft quite obvious to anyone even remotely skilled in the area.

Similar considerations are made under other common law jurisdictions, such as under the Canadian Patents Act or in the United States; however the North Americans often refer to this as non-obviousness rather than an inventive step. Bar the different wording the substantial considerations are very much alike. This only shows how important true inventiveness is under patent legislation.