Utah
How Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. applies in Utah: state-specific rules, key cases, and bar exam notes for Copyright.
Utah law closely aligns with the principles established in Feist Publications, emphasizing the necessity of originality in copyright protection. Like the federal standard, Utah requires that a work must exhibit at least a minimal degree of creativity to warrant copyright protection.
In Utah, as established in accordance with Feist, a compilation or database must show some degree of creativity or original authorship beyond mere factual compilation to qualify for copyright.
The court reinforced that mere factual compilations do not meet the originality criteria for copyright, aligning with the precedent set in Feist.
The court ruled that the arrangement of facts must reflect a creative process to qualify for copyright, reiterating the principles from Feist.
This case affirmed that originality is a threshold requirement, and mere factual collection without creative input is not copyrightable.
Utah's approach mirrors the federal standard established in Feist, wherein the requirement for originality applies universally to works protected under copyright law. Both jurisdictions assert that a mere data compilation does not satisfy the originality criterion unless it involves creative choice in selection or arrangement.
Understanding Feist's impact on copyright law is crucial for the Utah bar exam, particularly regarding tests on originality and the protection of compilations.