The United States Copyright Office has once more rejected an application by American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) requesting its logo, adopted in 2013, be copyrighted.
In its final decision dated January 8, the authority said the design was not creative enough as it is based on common shapes which are not subject to copyright.
"A mere simplistic arrangement of non-protectable elements does not demonstrate the level of creativity necessary to warrant protection," the Copyright's Office representative Catherine Zaller Rowland said. "After reviewing the application, deposit copy, and relevant correspondence, along with the arguments in the second request for reconsideration, the Board affirms the Registration Program's denial of registration."
The new American Airlines logo consists of a navy blue name of the carrier and an icon depicting an eagle's beak piercing through a red-and-blue trapezoidal bloc, meant to represent a leg of the letter "A" or the eagle's wings spread in flight.
The US Copyright Office argues that such a design uses common elements and widely used colours of the American flag, and contains too little creative input to be eligible for copyright.
The design is trademarked, which prohibits its usage by other US-based airlines or travel industry companies, but copyright would have given American Airlines wider, more global protection.
The carrier filed for copyright protection in June 2016 but had its first request rejected in April 2017 for the same reasons.
