Friday, October 31, 2014

A Tale of Ghoulish Copyright Authors

Late last night, I settled into a chair in front of my warm fire.
With the windows closed and blinds drawn,
I picked up my Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices,
Seeking guidance on the new copyright regimen.

I began with authorship, and learned that,
Right there, in Section 306, a new rule is presented,
Clarifying that only a work created by a human being can be registered.
“Work purportedly created by divine or supernatural beings” cannot register.

Intrigued, I wondered why it was necessary for such a rule?
Had divine beings previously sought the right of registration?
I wondered. I took my laptop, logged onto copyright.gov
And conducted an author search.

I searched filings by author names.
I searched Dracula, and Poltergeist,
Witch, zombie, demon, mummy
Ghoul and ghost.

During my search, I heard what I took to be
A knock at my door. But I assumed that it was
The wind pushing against the windowpane,
And nothing more.

I was surprised with my search findings.
There, on my laptop screen, were search results
In the author field for:

Dracula, and Poltergeist
And Witch, Zombie
Demon and Mummy,
And for Ghoul and Ghost.
Authors all.

How can this be, I thought, since only
Humans by rule can be registered authors?
And then it occurred to me that,
Given the learned experience of the Copyright Office,
These creatures must be human, and nothing more.

They are among us.

The wind continued to batter the windows.
But then I heard a distinct knock at my door.
I put down my laptop, stood from my chair,
And walked to my door.

"Who is there," I asked? "Who is knocking on my door?"

I pondered the copyright registrations by

Dracula

   Poltergeists

      Witches

         Zombies

            Demons

               Mummies

                  Ghouls, and

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I open the door, slowly.



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