''Eltra Corp. v. Ringer'', 579 F.2d 294 (4th Cir. 1978), was a case in the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...

that determined that

typefaces A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...

were not eligible for protection under U.S. copyright law. The United States Copyright Office had refused to register a typeface design owned by Eltra Corporation, who filed suit in the

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton ...

. The district court held that the design submitted did not qualify as a "work of art" under Regulation 202.10(c) of the

1909 Copyright Act The Copyright Act of 1909 () was a landmark statute in United States statutory copyright law. It went into effect on July 1, 1909. The 1909 Act was repealed and superseded by the Copyright Act of 1976, which went into effect on January 1, 1978; ...

. The appellate court affirmed this decision.

Background

Eltra Corp is a typesetting equipment manufacturer who filed a copyright registration on an alphabet and other typographical symbols for its equipment. Eltra hired a designer to produce a custom typeface for $11,000. Eltra registered the typeface with the Copyright Office as a "work of art", which was rejected. Following the rejection Eltra filed a case with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia who denied a motions for summary judgment and dismissed the action arguing that no element in combination or alone can be considered a work of art under § 5(g) of the Copyright Act. Eltra appealed the decision.

Opinion

Donald S. Russell Donald Stuart Russell (February 22, 1906 – February 22, 1998) was an American attorney from South Carolina who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration, President of the University of South Carolina, governor of South Car ...

wrote the opinion affirming the decision of the district court. Russell argues that a type face is an industrial design and that there is a distinction between copyrightable works of applied art and uncopyrighted works of industrial design. The distinction is expressed in the regulation and the intent of the 1976 revision of the Copyright Act, when it was written.

External links

text
of the Fourth Circuit opinion United States copyright case law Typography 1978 in United States case law United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit cases {{Typography-stub