My immediate reaction — or actually, question — upon learning of the Sanford email love letters was why hadn’t the Governor exercised his copyright ownership rights over this material and blocked its publication? While Sanford may still have suffered self-inflicted mortal damage to his political career, suppressing the letters might have allowed him to spare his wife and children, not to mention the children of his lover. Inexplicably, I can find no evidence that he took any such action.
ANSWER: Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by federal statute, for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression, including a form that is only perceptible with the aid of a machine, such as email. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. A work is under copyright protection the moment it is created.
There is no question that the Governor’s love letters, and those of his paramour, are subject to copyright protection. Indeed, like poetry, love letters are an intensely creative and original process, among the most deserving of copyright protection.
