"For sports fans, certain moments are etched in memory, like Sid Bream sliding into home to clinch the pennant or Kelee Ringo's interception to seal a national championship. Even celebratory dances, like Ickey Woods' "Ickey Shuffle," become part of the sport's cultural legacy. These are sequences of planned and unplanned movements, which leads us to ask a question concerning intellectual property law: Can a coach's football play be copyrighted?"
"The 1976 Copyright Act includes "choreographic works" as protectable subject matter. An end zone dance, or "choreography," is a sequence of planned movements, similar to a traditional dance. For a dance to be copyrightable, it must be "fixed in a tangible medium." This means it needs to be recorded on video or transcribed using a system of notation. If a dance like the "Ickey Shuffle" is on video, it meets the fixation requirement."
"However, the bar for choreographic creativity is subject to scrutiny from the U.S. Copyright Office. The Copyright Office refused to register the "Carlton Dance" from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", stating that its steps were too simple and short."
Choreographic works are recognized under the 1976 Copyright Act and require fixation in a tangible medium, such as video or notation, to be copyrightable. A sufficiently creative celebratory dance, like the viral "Floss," can meet registration standards when fixed. The U.S. Copyright Office scrutinizes simplicity and brevity, as shown by the refusal to register the "Carlton Dance" for lacking sufficient creative authorship. In contrast, sports plays and play calls tend to be functional, strategic, and evolving, placing them outside copyright protection even though they involve planned sequences of movement.
Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
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