“Where creativity refers to the nature of the work itself, originality refers to the nature of the author’s contribution to the work. Thus, a public domain painting may evince great creativity, but if a copyright claimant adds nothing of his own to it, by way of reproduction or otherwise, then copyright will be denied on the basis of lack of originality. Conversely, a work may be entirely the product of the claimant’s independent efforts, and hence original, but may nevertheless be denied protection as a work of art if it is completely lacking in any modicum of creativity.” 1 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright§ 2.08[B][2], at 2-88 (Supp. 1995).
creativity
creativity. Copyright. The degree to which a work displays imaginativeness beyond what a person of very ordi-nary talents might create. • Labor and expense are not elements of creativity; for that reason, they are not protected by copyright. Feist Pubs., Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 111 S.Ct. 1282 (1991). Cf. ORIGINALITY; SWEAT-OF-THE-BROW DOCTRINE . [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 12. C.J.S. Copyrights and Intellectual Property §§ 19–20, 92.]
