Copyright Office Won’t Register ‘Middle-Finger Pictogram’ As Literary Work–Ashton v. Copyright Office

Ashton created a coffee mug displaying the words “People Pleaser in Recovery” on the outside, the word “Refill” on the inside bottom, and a single-fingered salute on the outside bottom: Ashton applied for copyright registrations for 2D artwork and a literary work. According to Ashton, the “text” supporting the literary work copyright consisted of the phrases “people pleaser in recovery” + “refill” + the “pictogram” of the raised middle finger; those elements allegedly comprised a 3-line poem, e.g.: People Pleaser in Recovery Refill Ashton claimed the middle-finger drawing qualified as text, not 2D artwork, because it is a “word, indicia or symbol” (though the actual Sec. 101 definition of “literary work” says “words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia”). The Copyright Office repeatedly refused the registration for text. Its final…

Read more detail on Recent Legal Marketing posts –

This entry was posted in Legal Marketing and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply