COMPUTING AND MEASURING DEVICES
Devices and similar articles designed for computing and measuring cannot
be copyrighted. Common examples of uncopyrightable works are slide rules,
wheel dials, and perpetual calendar designs. Ideas, methods, systems, mathematical
principles, formulas, and equations are not copyrightable, and the same is
true of devices based on them. The printed material comprising a device (lines,
numbers, symbols, calibrations, and their arrangement) likewise cannot be
copyrighted, because this material is necessarily dictated by the uncopyrightable
idea, principle, formula, or standard of measurement involved.
To be copyrightable, a work must contain at least a minimum amount of creative
authorship in the form of original literary, artistic, or musical expression.
A computing or measuring device as such contains no expression of a copyrightable
nature. It does not communicate facts or ideas in itself, but instead, it
is a means for arriving at an almost unlimited number of readings or results.
To the extent that the contents of a device are predetermined by its function,
they lack creative authorship.
Rev: November 1999
This electronic version has been altered slightly from the original printed
text for presentation on the World Wide Web. For a copy of the original
circular, consult the PDF
version or write to Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington,
D.C. 20559-6000.