You can copyright just about any
design, right? Not quite.
Those who think there are no teeth in copyright law's
originality requirement only need to look at Dr. Mitchell
Pohl's before-and-after photos portraying his cosmetic dental
work. Dr. Pohl sued a competitor he found using his photos, but the
competitor claimed the photos weren't original enough for
copyright.
The court agreed in Pohl v. MH SUB I, LLC,
finding that Dr. Pohl's two "direct shots" of his
patient's teeth were purely utilitarian, like pictures of food
plates on a Chinese restaurant's menu. They lacked the minimal
required "creative spark."
Photographs are often viewed as creative because of the
photographer's creative choices in angles, lighting, posing,
and composition. But because Dr. Pohl couldn't even remember
the camera, the lighting, or whether the patient was sitting or
standing, he made out a weak case for creative choices. To the
court, the photos were merely functional: "To the
