Can you copyright an already copyrighted item by adding something to it?

[sassparilla49]

Can a product purchased at Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond (a plastic boot tray) already copyrighted, have something added to it to make a dog potty tray (artificial turf) and be copyrighted as the dog potty tray. What about the copyright of the original boot tray?
Doesn't the original copyright supercede the 'supposed' new copyright?
I am really curious about the second product being 'copyrighted' when he added something to the original object.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Can a product purchased at Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond (a plastic boot tray) already copyrighted, have something added to it to make a dog potty tray (artificial turf) and be copyrighted as the dog potty tray. What about the copyright of the original boot tray?
Doesn't the original copyright supercede the 'supposed' new copyright?
I am really curious about the second product being 'copyrighted' when he added something to the original object.

Think of it this way - a classic example. Someone paints a gorgeous portrait. You paint a mustache. Does painting the mustache change the original owner's rights in their painting? No. Let's say you bought 10 copies of the pictures and painted a mustache - can you resell them as "man with a mustache?" Yes, you can but your rights in the whole are inferior to the owner of the painting. What you have is a right to sell your copy of what you bought - it's called the "first sale doctrine." Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia which is a pretty good explanation and I won't have to retype it.

The first-sale doctrine is a limitation on copyright that was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908 (see Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus) and subsequently codified in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 109. The doctrine allows the purchaser to transfer (i.e., sell or give away) a particular lawfully made copy of the copyrighted work without permission once it has been obtained. This means that the copyright holder's rights to control the change of ownership of a particular copy end once that copy is sold, as long as no additional copies are made. This doctrine is also referred to as the "first sale rule" or "exhaustion rule."

--> So what this means is you can buy as many of your dog trays and fill them with dirt. Usually as long as the original manufacturer isn't losing money (and gaining sales) there isn't a practical problem and technically not a legal one either.

 

[tpajet]

I don't know about putting a trademark on it, but you could still sell the items. Those two items are simply your material supplies for the final product.