The copyright statutes enumerate the articles or classes of articles
subject-matter of copyright, and first in the list stands "book." The
first consideration is, therefore, What is to be understood by the term
"book" as thus used? or, in other words, What is a "book," as that
designation is employed in the copyright law?
The answer is indicated in the provision of the federal constitution
upon which our copyright legislation is founded. This paragraph of the
constitution (section 8 of article 1) grants to Congress--"in order to
promote the progress of science and useful arts"--the right to enact
laws to secure "to authors ... the exclusive right to their ...
writings...." This provision is, of course, to be broadly interpreted,
but, using the exact wording of the law, it is the _writing_ of an
author--his literary composition--the prose or poetical expression of
his thought--which makes his "book," as the term is used in the
copyright law. In order to be a "book," subject to protection under the
copyright law, the author's production must have this literary
characteristic. The _quality_ of the literary ingredient is not tested,
but its presence is requisite. Hence not everything which may ordinarily
be called a book is fitly so nominated, in order to indicate the
subject-matter of copyright; while some productions not ordinarily
designated as "books" may properly be thus classified in order to be
registered as a preliminary to copyright protection.
That an article possesses the corporeal characteristics of a book is of
little consequence. The _literary_ substance, not the material form,
primarily determines the matter. An article contributed to a newspaper
or a periodical--although but a few paragraphs in length--is a "book"
under the copyright law, while a bookkeeper's ledger, to all outward
appearance answering the description, is not a "book" so far as
registering its title to secure copyright is concerned. A calendar whose
main features are literary may doubtless be properly registered as a
"book," but a pack of playing cards with pictures on the backs, even
though each card may be furnished with a linen guard and all bound up,
with a plausible title-page, so as to resemble a book, is not a "book"
in the meaning of the copyright law.
Orderly arranged information produced in a form which would commonly be
termed a chart cannot be registered under that designation which in the
copyright law is applicable only to a chartographical work, but may
properly be called a "book"; while a so-called book of coupons, or
railway tickets, or of blank forms, cannot be thus entitled.
In brief, it should be a book in the ordinary understanding of a work of
_literature_ or art, and may not include a production whose main feature
is some original idea, however ingenious or fanciful its form may be, or
is of the character of something invented. Invention must look for
protection to the patent law.