de minimis test
de minimis test. Copyright. A judicial test for determining whether a contributor to a joint work is an author for legal purposes, based on whether the joint effort itself is an original expression that qualifies for copyright protection. • This test has been rejected in favor of the copyrightability test by most courts that have addressed the issue. Cf. COPYRIGHTABILITY TEST. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 41(3). C.J.S. Trade-Marks, Trade-Names, and Unfair Competition § 190.]
