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No, you can not copyright a shape!

A few weeks ago I finally got my hands on a USB turntable so I can digitize all that vinyl I still own. (No, I won’t be tossing the vinyl, this is some rare stuff.) Anyway, Here’s what I bought for just $25 with a really good coupon at Half Price Books.

Turntable Box Copyright (1)

While ripping my first album into Audacity (Bodies and Soul by The Manhattan Transfer if you’re wondering,) I started looking at the box and noticed a lot of fine print on the bottom.

Turntable Box Copyright (2)

I noticed that a lot of that fine print seemed to be related to copyright so I took a closer look:

Turntable Box Copyright (3)

That’s right folks. According to VIBETM they are claiming copyright on the shape of the box.  Never mind that the images I’m posting here may be violating their copyright I’m calling fair use since I’m using them for criticism. But seriously, it’s a frickin’ box. It’s not even a uniquely shaped box. If Lego can’t get trademark protection for the shape of their bricks, you sure can’t get copyright for the shape for your box.

Published by Michael Sauers

Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.

One Reply to “No, you can not copyright a shape!”

  1. Hi,

    Thanks for posting this, I passed it on to an online friend who wants to know if a shape can be copyrighted.

    Sincerely,
    Cheryl Morris

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