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By Joel I. Rosenblatt, Attorney at Law
Mr. Rosenblatt, a Registered Patent Attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, practices in the commercial law of technology and the Internet and the law of patents, trademarks, and copyrights. He is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediator, a Florida Bar Approved Mediator for Computer Law Disputes, certified as a Mediator and Arbitrator for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and is admitted to all U.S. District Courts for Florida. Any questions or comments may be directed to Mr. Rosenblatt at (321) 727-7626; FAX: 727-8209 or by email to jirosenblatt@earthlink.net
The Amazing Dewey
To answer first questions - first. The Dewey we mean is not Dewey of D. Duck’s Huey and Louey, fame or Admiral Dewey, or even that famous crime busting D.A. of the late ‘30's who booked crime boss Lucky Luciano and went on to defeat in his only two presidential bids, against Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. The Dewey in mind is the “Mr. Dewey,” of the “Dewey Decimal System,” fame. You may have noticed I used capitals for Mr. Dewey and as you will see, not without reason.
Now, if the librarians in the readership will kindly move over, while I give some history in library science, which must eventually emerge, as my publisher tells me, in a column on intellectual property. Once upon a time, libraries were the exclusive province of the resident librarian who given absolute power, ruled over his library absolutely. Sorry ladies, no women librarians in those days. Given human nature and the way it was, and still is, each librarian believed his self conceived system the best and without parallel. Any other system was not worth considering. Pity the poor traveling reader. Without a uniform system for arranging the library collection, reliance had to be on the individual librarian for each respective library. If the librarian was in a bad mood or just didn’t want to communicate, the one book or collection of books of personal interest could have been anywhere, requiring the librarian be treated very nicely or otherwise necessitating a very long search and a lot of time.
With that as prologue, let us now welcome Mr. Dewey, a 19th century gentleman, who like many of his contemporaries, assumed a scientific order to the universe which they believed should be reflected in life on earth. Apparently interested in bringing that perceived order to libraries or perhaps, because he disliked the tyranny of individual librarians, came up with an orderly system for arranging books by subject, either to accommodate the reader or for revenge for perceived wrongs committed by one or more librarians.
The Dewey system starts with listing each general subject by a integer number, like 330 or 920, or something like that. It then subdivides each general subject by assigned decimal numbers for each sub subject. As anyone can see, the possibilities are endless. Mr. Dewey knew that while the system may be circumscribed by integers 001 to 999, the possibilities for decimal numbers are infinite and the system would be able to accommodate any subject under the universe, including Science and Mathematics, Language, and Literature. To insure uniformity, Mr. Dewey wrote a book describing his system with an index of subject matter keywords referenced to the library catalogue Dewey decimal number and by a listing by Dewey decimal number arranged with the corresponding subject keyword. A quick trip to the library will convince anyone the System works just fine, with each title having a number at the lowest decimal level and with common numbered titles being separated by the authors last name in alphabetical order, of course.
Try locating a title in Psychology, 100.004 or Political Science, 300.002, adjoining under the alphabet but separated by 200 integer under Dewey’s decimals.
For those who like to think in terms of data bases, the Dewey System may be imagined in terms of a hierarchal data base, in the form of a descending tree starting with a set of integers and branching down to the set of longest decimals, representing the lowest subdivision of an integer general subject. With a title assigned two or more subject keywords, each under a separate respective general integer, the classification was more difficult, requiring the reader to head for the broadest category and hope for the best. For example, an interest in mind affecting drugs might lead the reader to pharmacology, law enforcement, psychology, sociology, or religion, in the expectation that would uncover any title with anything to say about drugs. However, the relational data base can arrange for any one keyword to be indexed against many titles and decimal numbers, so a full search by keyword is possible with the Dewey System, by assigned keywords referred to respective Dewey decimal numbers.
While anyone reading this column, already knows all of this and finds it as dull as, well, a trip to the library, the concept does have some applications outside of libraries, in hotels for example, to identify floors, sections, or rooms. The connection would appear to be especially marketable in a hotel around the corner and down the street from the home of the New York City Public Library. It’s good as a marketing tool, identifying the “Library” Hotel with a notable public institution and giving it some panache in the form of life (the room and floor numbering) imitating library science (the Dewey Decimal System).
As you might have already guessed, some lawyer claiming to represent the Dewey Decimal System, sent a cease and desist letter, ordering the Library Hotel to stop using its trademark: DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION registered at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for an Index Relating to a System of Classifying the Field of Human Knowledge. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 1876-12-01. In case anyone doesn’t know, that’s an incontestable trademark and the Library Hotel will not even be permitted to prove an earlier use, even it could.
The lawyer alleges that the Hotel, by naming a floor with a System approved keyword for general subject matter and then naming the rooms on the floor by a System approved sub keyword and the appropriate decimal number, the hotel using public would be likely to confuse the Library Hotel with the Dewey Decimal System. The lawyer claims the rooms identified by the System even have books placed in each room classified according to the respective Dewey System number. Of course, the lawyer uses as prominent examples in his complaint, the rooms marked “Erotic Literature,” Number 800.001 and “Love,” Number 100.006.
While the Hotel does not dispute the validity of the Dewey trademark, it does argue its name is the Library Hotel and the use of the Dewey Decimal System without using the words “Dewey,” or “Decimal Classification.” would not be likely to confuse the hotel or library using public and would not be an infringement. A good agument as the Dewey people would have to show a two step connection starting with the subgroup Dewey keywords and the decimal numbers, as placed in use by the Library Hotel, to the Dewey registered trademark. Not an easy task, especially when no one except perhaps librarians knows or remembers the Dewey Decimal Classification.
But what about the use of the System, aside from the words “Dewey” and “Decimal?” After all there is a copyrighted book describing the System and wouldn’t its use make our Library Hotel manager subject to arrest by the Copyright Office Cops? The answer is no, because copyright does not protect the system, method or procedures described in a copyrighted work and the expression of keywords and numbers would be arguably too little taken from the protected work covering the System, to amount to an infringement. I say arguably because the lawyer would allege the expression of the whole system associating the Dewey keywords with Dewey numbers, is a creative and original expression and protect able as in the copyrighted Dewey Decimal Classification Manual and lifting parts of the System is an infringement. Think of a song, where the individual notes or words or even the association of individual notes and words, are not copyright protected, but some mimimal number of bars of the score sheet would be sufficent for protection by the whole. Of course the Hotel can change the classification scheme and argue the keywords are not copyrighted, as functional and the Library changed the numbers.
Patent protection would not apply, for obvious reasons. If the truth be told, there was, and possibly still is, a bar across the street from the Toledo, Ohio main library building named the “Library,” and while I have used its phone to call my office and say “I am at the Library,” I have never seen a librarian go inside and seek patent protection.
In the way of improvement, access (no pun intended) to a library’s collection has been made by the 20th century relational data base, but the System remains stuck in Einstein’s strict view of the 19th century ordered universe. Improving the System however, for example in the style of the Bohr 20th century vision of the universe as random and violent, could possibly meet some violent response from librarians and not worth considering.
One last word, for those who might be inspired by the Dewey keywords and numbers used in this column, it was something I copied from the New York Times and not my original selection.
Stay Tuned for Next Month's Article!
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Joel I. Rosenblatt is state Supreme Court certified and available for mediation and arbitration. He practices as a registered patent attorney in patents, trademarks and copyrights. Specific areas of practice include commercial law related to electronics, computers, data processing, telecommunications, materials and mechanical engineering, the Internet and entertainment and in the development and licensing of technology and creative works. As Intellectual Property and Licensing Counsel for Fortune 200 corporations, he has acquired numerous patents for electronics and computer related inventions, and has prepared and negotiated design, development and distribution agreements for software, telecommunications, electronic technology, and creative works. As a logistics attorney, he has provided counsel and representation in the field of customs, logistics services, and in loss and damage claims.
Mr. Rosenblatt is available for mediation and arbitration in the fields of general law, intellectual property, entertainment, and technology law, and in logistics law and loss and damage claims. Emphasizing technology and the arts, he serves a wide range of intellectual property and commercial needs for individual and business clients. Mr. Rosenblatt, as a senior level attorney can provide clients easy access and quick turnaround.
Education and Professional Affiliations:
Mr. Rosenblatt holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree from the New York Polytechnic University, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD from the Catholic University of America Law School.
Mr. Rosenblatt is a Registered Patent Attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and a member of the Florida and New York State Bars. Admitted to practice in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the United States Court of International Trade and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, and Middle Districts of Florida. Florida Supreme Court Certified for Circuit Court Mediation and approved by the Florida Bar as a Mediator of Computer Law Disputes. Mr. Rosenblatt has completed Florida Supreme Court Certified Arbitration Training and is certified as a Mediator and Arbitrator in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. jirosenblatt@earthlink.net . |
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