Intellectual Property Law

Chapter 9 Case Study Answers

Case Study: Fit Forever’s employees have written a jingle (Fit For Now—Fit Forever!)
and a script for a television commercial promoting the services of the fitness centers.
Neither one of these works has a copyright notice and neither one of them has been
registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Activities: Indicate whether the jingle and script are protectable under copyright law.

Yes, both works are protectable under copyright law. Copyright law protects
songs and written words. The fact that these are commercial works (rather
than purely literary works) is irrelevant. As soon as the works were created
in a fixed form (being put on paper or typed) they were protected under
copyright law. Although obtaining a copyright registration affords a
copyright owner certain advantages, it is not necessary to obtain a copyright
registration for a work to be protected under copyright law. Moreover, it is
not necessary for a copyrighted work to have a copyright notice in order to
be protectable.