Don't Think About Copyright Law On Labor Day

Labor Day is the wrong time to think about copyright law, especially in 2016, because this year marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service, 499 U.S. 340 (1991). That's the case that took the "labor" out of copyright jurisprudence by ending the "sweat of the brow" doctrine.

Why was "labor" a factor in the first place?  The answer starts with the sine qua non of copyright law: originality. An authored work must express a modicum of originality in order to be protected by a copyright.  Therefore, facts don't get protected, because they don't spring from an act of original authorship.

But here is where it gets tricky.  What about a compilation of facts, such as a directory or certain almanacs? Can that be protected by copyright? Yes, in theory, but the protection is "thin;" it applies only to an original "selection and arrangement" of those facts.  Someone can come along and copy the facts from