Re: The Four Symbols is Copyrighted Part 1

[weiser <weiser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 12:59 PM 4/18/03 -0400, TangerineMan wrote:

>And Zep/Atlantic almost surely copyrighted them back in the day, when they
>actually sent out artwork to Billboard etc. for them to use in identifying
>the fourth album on charts and such. Or I am completely confused, and
>thinking of TAFKA Prince's glyph from a few years ago?

Prince's glyph was printed in an age when typography font software allowed arty 
symbols 
to be set up in photo fonts  and phototypeset at the same size as the 
surrounding type.
This is in direct contast to the printing industry technology available at the 
time of 
the original publication of the Four Symbols logo on the Led Zeppelin IV album.
At that time, type was still set from a hot metal led slug linotype machine 
more often than not. 
So there were  typewriter symbol substitutions because the printing industry 
magazines and 
newspapers did not have an easy way of inserting type-sized non standard art 
illustration 
symbols into the surrounding printed copy without a lot of extra cost and fuss.
So they did'nt.
There's an interview where Jimmy Page seemed to take great delight in the havoc 
any printing 
of the Four Symbols caused the printing industry in general for the very 
reasons I outlined 
above. Prince's symbol is also copyrighted.

On the original issue Led Zeppelin IV album sleeve jacket cover no copyright 
symbol appears. 
The Four Symbols artwork appeared on the actual vinyl album label as well as 
the album cover 
spine and the platter sleeve insert. The Four Symbols vinyl record label is 
where the copyright 
symbol appeared. The Four Symbols are also the title of the Led Zeppelin IV 
album. Under the 
copyright law, titles can't be copyrighted but artwork can. An interesting 
paradox, but it 
was'nt a contradiction. The Four Symbols represented the individual and 
collective symbolic 
musical identities of the members of Led Zeppelin. That and Prince's symbol are 
the only 
copyrighted titles for albums that I know of right off hand.
Why? Because the art work is the title, not a language, so it jumps over that 
legal obstacle 
nicely. Prince figured out the neat little trick too.

The Four Symbols together form a unique art logo. As such, it is protected 
under U.S. and 
international copyright laws as a title, artwork and set of distinctive trade 
marks.
Am I qualified to discuss whether or not a logo is copyrighted? You bet. My 
bachelor's degree 
is in corporate identity logo and corporate visual communications design.
One of my specific studies at university was the Four Symbols as a test case in 
college when 
we had to study the changes in the copyright laws that the rewrite in 1978 
brought with it. 
There was a special seminar that our school in the university organized and I 
took the 
suggested courses to become acquainted with the major aspects of legality in 
creating corporate 
identities. I discovered Jimmy Page did his homework very well.
Shar