Copyright registration of an entire issue of a magazine does not extend protection to the individual articles within the magazine, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled March 28, finding that an author’s failure to obtain copyright registration of her columns left her without a remedy for “abject and reprehensible” copying by another publisher ( Morris v. Business Concepts Inc. , S.D.N.Y, No. 99 Civ. 59 (RCC), 3/28/00).
Lois B. Morris writes a monthly column on health, psychology, and fitness for Allure magazine, a publication of Conde Nast Inc. Pursuant to an annual agreement, Conde Nast commissioned 12 articles a year. In turn, Morris granted Conde Nast the exclusive first right to publish the articles for 90 days after the issue date, and the non-exclusive right to reuse the articles for the full term of copyright. Morris, however, retained ownership of the copyright.
