Product Descriptions Can Amount to 'Creative Works'

Few people would compare the descriptions of everyday products we buy online like furniture and electronics to traditional "creative works" like books, photographs or music. Yet a new case out of the Midwest suggests that indeed, even the very humdrum descriptions that businesses create to sell products online may be entitled to copyright protection, just as long as they are ever-so- slightly more than purely factual descriptions. What is more significant is the fact that business owners who copy such descriptions could be personally liable for the infringement.