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Can You Copyright a Joke? (npr.org)

Posted by msmash on from the getting-to-the-bottom-of-things dept.

Reader AnalogDiehard writes: Writer Alex Kaseburg has filed a lawsuit against TBS and Time Warner alleging that jokes recited on the Conan O'Brien show were stolen from his blog shortly after they were published. The case gets heard in August and could create new protections in a legal forum in which there is little precedent or clear definition in what defines a joke as "original" and subject to legal protection, especially in an industry where theft of humor occurs on a regular basis. But the outcome of any judicial decision opens a big can of worms and raises serious questions: Will YouTube videos get shut down from DMCA notices citing copyrighted jokes? Will compliance staff have to be retained to ensure that their magazine or news article, TV show, movie, or broadway act is not infringing on copyrighted jokes? Will copyrights on jokes get near-perpetual protection like the controversial Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act? Will people be able to recite limericks without fear of infringing? Will tyrannical politicians copyright critical jokes to oppress freedom of speech? Will legal cases be filed arguing that a comedian's joke(s) bears too much similarity to a copyrighted joke recited decades ago? Will girl scouts be free to tell copyright jokes around the campfire?

7 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Apparently yes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I tried to say I was a Slashdot moderator and got chewed out for it.

  2. In other words... by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Funny

    So you're saying copyright is a joke?

  3. If someone would... by grumpyman · · Score: 1, Funny

    If someone would copyright the word "copyright", than we don't need to hear about this stuff anymore.

  4. Re:Simple by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Funny

    There once was a man from Nantucket...

    who copyrighted a bucket.
    The judge tossed the case
    as moot on its face
    and he heard the next case on his docket.

    No?

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  5. Re:Copyright this by mrbester · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  6. Knock, knock by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who's ther.... [DMCA Takedown notice received]

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  7. Re:Simple by sootman · · Score: 5, Funny

    > No?

    No. The meter's off. :-)

    There once was a man from Nantucket
    Who told all his lawyers to suck it.
    He took a big toke,
    Gave up on his joke,
    Got really high and said "fuck it."

    --
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