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Can You Copyright a Joke? (npr.org)
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?
If you can copyright jokes...
or will end up owing a ton of money to people that are actually funny.
Probably not. This feels similar to the copyright situation surrounding recipes.
You can't copyright a recipe. You can copyright a particular description of a recipe, which is why many recipes come with flowery descriptions and pretty pictures. Those can be copyrighted. But the thing itself, the list of instructions, cannot be.
By the same token, it'd be unsurprising if the courts found that particular wordings or diagrams can be copyrighted, but the joke itself -- the end product -- cannot be copyrighted.
Conan isn't a hack, he's genuinely funny (IMHO). This is probably coincidental. Somewhat related (from Zach Wiener): An Open Letter to Sarah Silverman
"Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Ridiculous. You could die later today.
Unfortunately, though I can already imagine all sorts of bad scenarios that will come about from granting jokes copyright protections .... I'm not sure there's a strong argument to prevent the lawyers from hopping aboard this gravy train?
A professional comedian is essentially paid to deliver jokes and skits that make an audience laugh. In most cases, this is done with memorized lines, scripted and honed over time. In many situations (like late night TV), the host doing a bit of stand-up comedy as part of the show is using jokes purchased from writers who make the material for them.
So in that sense, yes - jokes have monetary value and it's customary to pay people to provide them for you.
Obviously, the DELIVERY of the lines is also a part of what makes a comedian "good" (and worth paying to see). But the same could be said for musical performances. We still extend copyright protection to songs, despite the fact that individual artists bring something unique when they perform them.