Copyrighting a smile

They just don't get it. You can't lock your employees in the store and make them work without pay; you can't continually hire undocumented workers and say "oops;" you can't have the majority of your products made by near-slave labor overseas, you can't have your new employee orientations sessions have lectures covering how to sign up for public assistance because you aren't payed enough, and then try to copyright a smiley face. It's like Satan wanting to copyright sunshine.

That's just stupid as hell. It seems Wal-Mart wants to take something in the public domain and make it theirs, yes, indeed they do. As if they don't own or control enough, they want to own the ubiquitous iconic emblem of the 1970s, the smiley face.

According to the BBC "... [S]ince 1996, Wal-Mart has used the image in the US on uniforms and promotional signs, and it wants sole rights to it in the US."

They further report that "Until now the smiley face had been considered in the public domain in the US, and therefore free for anyone to use."

Here's the full story.