(Fall 1998)
The "Seinfeld" TV series may be cancelled, but its legacy of probing cultural insights remains. I now know that it's not a lie if you believe. One must suffer for one's soup. Festivus celebrations may never be the same, but just because it's a "has been" doesn't mean it's a "never was." A crying need for men's foundational garments -- be they known as "bros" or as "mansieres" -- has been stripped bare. Yada, yada, yada.
But "Seinfeld's" contribution to the field of copyright law may be just as important. In Castle Rock Ent. v. Carol Publishing, an unauthorized Seinfeld trivia book was held to infringe Castle Rock's copyright. Damages of $400,000 were awarded, based on infringing book sales.
In so holding, the court sailed up a poorly charted copyright law inlet. Copyright law protects the particular creative expression but not the ideas upon which the expression is based. In Castle Rock, 643 "fragments" of information from the series are the subject of trivia questions, such as identifying which of several named characters "drinks Colt .45 in the nude."*
However, there were few direct quotes or close paraphrases from the series. Rather, the court considers the book to have copied "expression" by distinguishing "discovered facts" (not protectable) from "created facts" (protectable by copyright), but glossed over why this distinction rendered frequent references "infringement." Traditional infringement tests were deemed "inapplicable," presumably because they didn't achieve desired result.
There was, moreover, the fair use defense to be considered. Now, I hasten to note for legal reasons that my own commentary here clearly constitutes scholarly criticism and fair comment, with a dash of parody thrown in. Let's also agree that the snippets from the series that I have selected are so minimal that their use is fair for the purpose intended. Sorry to point out the obvious, but one can't be too careful these days. Unfortunately for the trivia authors, their book seemed to the court merely to trade off the original work without adding value or a twist of its own.
I don't know. I'd have to see the "wrong" answers the trivia authors created for their multiple choice questions before I could agree.
Perhaps the court took to heart postal worker Newman's insight and carried it one step further: When you control the copyright, you control information. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
*Answer: Kramer's mother