Smit & Van Wyk

Provisional Copyrights Don’t Apply to Every Word

Provisional copyrights cannot be obtained for a word since provisional copyrights only protect literary, artistic, photographic, musical, drama, and film work. Novels, lyrics, and articles can thus be copyright protected, but you cannot protect a short phrase as part of a company logo through copyright as such will be protected under trademark laws. Individual words cannot be copyright protected simply because it would not make sense. It would exclude the words from being used by another in writing, making it rather difficult to develop literary works.

Trademarks are more suitable than provisional copyrights for the protection of logos and phrases resembling the products and services of a company. Copyright protection however is automatically assigned for a whole logo in the sense that the art involved can be protected. A question may arise regarding bumper stickers. In such an instance, it is understandable that a person may want to protect the short phrase in some way or another. Fortunately for such there will be no need to apply for copyright protection since it is automatically assigned once the idea is put into a tangible form such as a bumper sticker.

To be able to prosecute someone for using a short phrase or title often used in speech, you would have to prove its uniqueness. The very notion of uniqueness is dispelled when a phrase is often used.  Enforcement of copyright protection for a common phrase would be virtually impossible. If the same phrase however, is trademarked it would make it possible to get some enforcement of protection, subject to the phrase qualifying as a trademark. As such it should not be a generic term or phrase and should uniquely distinguish one competitor’s products or services from others in the field.