Who Cares Whose Footprints Those Are In The Sand... The Real Question Is Who Gets The Copyright?

from the of-all-the-ridiculous-copyright-battles... dept

Mon, Jun 2nd 2008 12:17pm — Mike Masnick

You've probably come across the infamous "footprints in the sand" poem at some point in your life. It's hard to avoid. It's usually used as a religious parable about having God/Jesus/something "supporting" you during the toughest period in your life. For many years, it was attributed to "anonymous" and found on all sorts of kitschy merchandise. Except, at some point, with all that merchandise, people started to realize that there may be money in "owning" such a poem, and suddenly, out of the woodwork, approximately a dozen different folks have shown up to claim authorship -- with a few filing for the copyright, and a legal battle now ensuing. If you thought the saga over the Happy Birthday copyright was confusing, you haven't seen anything yet.

Some of the stories of alleged authors seem slightly more credible than others, while some are just downright bizarre:

"Meanwhile, there's Carolyn Joyce Carty, the other defendant in Zangare's suit. A self-proclaimed child prodigy and "world renowned poet laureate," Carty surfaced in the "Footprints" debate earlier this decade, saying she wrote the poem in 1963, when she was 6 years old, as an epilogue to a longer story she called "The Footprints of God." Actually, she claims her grandmother first wrote it in 1922, and then young Carolyn wrote it, and it is unclear, from a brief e-mail exchange with a reporter, if Carty understands what it means to have written something. She also filed a copyright on "Footprints," claiming it as her "contribution to society." She maintains a wondrously baffling "Footprints" Web site where, among other things, she claims she wrote the lyrics to "In My Life" before the Beatles did.

The real kicker, though, is that research suggests none of the dozen or so claimants actually wrote the poem or deserve the copyright for it. One researcher has tracked the concept of the story back to a sermon in 1880 and it may go back even further. Even more amusing, that same discussion points to the poet Robert Louis Stevenson writing an essay in 1894, where he discusses tangentially the same idea of footprints in the sand... but uses it to explain why it's so difficult it is for a creative writer to avoid borrowing from the works of those who have come before. Indeed. But, thanks to copyright, there's apparently plenty of money in pretending you came up with the idea all on your own. For one of the many folks who "claim" that she wrote the poem, and who has been most aggressive about licensing it, it has turned into "best-remunerated poem in history," according to her lawyer. Those footprints in the sand sure can carry a lot of weight, but what good does it do if it doesn't come with a copyright and a boatload of cash?

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Filed Under: copyright, footprints in the sand, ownership, poetry

31 Comments

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eleete, 2 Jun 2008 @ 12:22pm

RIAA
The RIAA owns it, is there any doubt ?

eleete
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WarOtter (profile), 2 Jun 2008 @ 12:54pm

I own them
I am submitting my patent for using your feet to place 'Foot Prints' in the sand. Anyone caught reproducing this work on their own must now pay me a royalty or face being pelted with oranges while you flop around on a tarp covered in butter.

I will also be submitting my 'Foot Prints in Snow, Mud, and plaster" patents soon.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 12:55pm

what's next? someone gonna claim they wrote the bible?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:02pm

bible mine!
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:02pm

Re:
THAT IS A GREAT IDEA.

And lots of money to be made, someone should patent it before churches cash in.
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C, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:03pm

Oh my...
Not everything has to be something in which it is owned by a specific person or company. It IS possibly to have something owned by society as a whole.

For example, who owns the English language? UK? Courts need to just throw these ridiculous claims out as its nothing but a waste of time for them, and waste of money which inflates the need for lawyers and essentially wastes money all-round.

If I could only find my stupid stick for beating these kinda of people?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:06pm

GOOD GRIEF!!!!!!

Magusyk
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DS78, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:12pm

MPAA
The MPAA owns. I saw it in a movie... in 1922.
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Not Applicable, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:16pm

Re: I own them
What about footprints in concrete? That one is mine. I guess
all those Hollywood types owe me for all those ones on the "walk of stars". "Footprints in Concrete" c1971 K Robertson
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Lucretious, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:17pm

Echo's of the Desiderata controversy.
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I own it, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:34pm

Thats mine too
I copyrighted the copyright, when am I gonna get paid?
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Forcing registration of original work, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:36pm

Knock of this non-sense by
This kind of crap could be resolved by simply forcing the author of any original work to register for copyright purposes prior to ANY publication. You don't register before you publish, instant public domain. There is sufficient technology in place today to automate nearly all aspects of a registration process.
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Rocky Racoon, 2 Jun 2008 @ 1:40pm

Okay, that does it, I'm patenting a method for placing bibles in hotel room drawers. Gideons beware!
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Michael, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:14pm

Re: Knock of this non-sense by
Pre-1976 the opt-in requirement you propose was the law; it is only since that copyright attachments the moment a creative work is fixed in a tangible medium.
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WarOtter (profile), 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:15pm

Re:
Yeah, if you can find one.
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YeOldeBastard (profile), 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:20pm

Re: Oh my...
"Who owns the English Language"? funny you should ask...

check any dictionary you like. They all have the "no part of this work may be reproduced in any form..." BS copyright notice. So - all the dictionaries do, and EVERYONE who writes down ANYTHING is in violation of their copyrights to every word in the English Language.

Wanna take that one to court?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:22pm

Re: Re: Knock of this non-sense by
Yes, I know. This requirement should be reinstated. It would stop a lot of the nonsense - like threatening to sue anyone who looks at the HTML behind your web page because you have a copyright on it.

On a slightly different tangent the same could be said for patents. I think requiring a 'working model' of your invention would clobber most of these overly broad patents issued for things like uploading a jpeg to a web page. Show us your 'invention' works before you get the patent.
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Hael, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:31pm

Re: I own them
Hmm, I actually own the copyright to any impression in sand, including those made by footprints. I was particularly excited when I had this flash of inspiration where I took some water and splashed it over one of my previous copyrighted prints to create, what I call, my beach footprint. So you may own the patent on the device (feet), but if you use your patented device to make said impression, then you will need to pay up.
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Sam, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:32pm

Each version of the bible is actually copyrighted, but the provisions for quoting and reprinting are very generous. If you want to publish your own translation, you have to do the work yourself or license it in most cases. I think :)
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Hael, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:35pm

Re: Re: Hotel drawers
I know...these cheap hotels just don't have drawers like they used to!
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Lawyers blow, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:39pm

Blame Lawyers
I don't necessarily blame the people who are stupid enough to file these suits. It's the lawyers who tell the people "Sure, that'll work". They're the ones getting rich and making our legal system a joke. When did money take the place of common sense in our courts?

Wait.. COPYRIGHT! The use of common sense in a court of law is MY idea. When they start using it I'll make a KILLING!
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DB, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:45pm

Footprints
I guess I have been living under a rock or something. What is this footprints in the sand thing?
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TW Burger, 2 Jun 2008 @ 2:54pm

Society Rewards Immorality
Every day I see a case where society rewards immorality as long as the individual/company has good enough lawyers and the money to pay them.

However, this seems to be so obviously wrong that I can only conclude that the entire legal system must be encouraging this behavior by throwing out common sense under the guise of legal fairness - you can argue you own heaven as long as you pay the legal fees. I hope it comes with an option on hell.
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Joe, 2 Jun 2008 @ 5:12pm

Patent ~= Copyright
I wish people would keep that clear.

Copyright has been extended to silly lengths of time. Meanwhile, patents have been extended to include silly *things*.

Anyhow, what does the poem say about the 20 sets of footprints, chasing after the single pair?

"Jesus answered: those were the times you tried to screw Me over, scrambling like wolves over a haunch of meat."
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ehrichweiss, 2 Jun 2008 @ 6:13pm

Re: Re: Oh my...
All this reminds me of the old Steven Wright joke:

"Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song? If so, whoever wrote that song, wrote everything."
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 7:13pm

I wrote that in a prior life and now claim ownership.
You all owe me big time
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Tony, 2 Jun 2008 @ 8:18pm

Re: Blame Lawyers
They'll never start using common sense in court. So your copyright is worthless.
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disgusted, 3 Jun 2008 @ 4:30am

Obviously, Mike, that poem wopuldn't have been written without the incentive of copyright, and someone needs to be paid for it. Because in the end money's the only thing that really matters.
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Nasch, 3 Jun 2008 @ 7:50am

Infamous?
What is "infamous" about this poem?
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Burrell Webb, 23 Jun 2008 @ 12:00am

footprints in the sand
Young man; It looks like you have not yet matured enough to think objectively. While I share your disgust at the number of liars who claim to have authored this poem, since only one person can enjoy that privilage; I can find no merit in negative and anti social orientation such as that which you display in your article. The internet is not for puking poison upon society but for enlightened communication.
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amber Relph, 23 May 2013 @ 3:55pm

Carolyn Joyce Carty
Unfortunately, I know this woman Carolyn Carty who claims to have wrotten this poem as a 6yo child prodigy.. I share a child with her son..
These people are frauds, and outright lunatics!!
Carolyn also claims to be the secret love child of Marilyn Monroe, and JFK too..
I just thought Id share that lol!
She is a mentally unstable methamphetamine addict, who lives off the government ssi and welfare.
I didn't think she was" with it" enough to even make a claim like that lmao!
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