43 BIRDIE BILL thus copyright protected. In the UK, by contrast, that list of things in which copyright can subsist is an exhaustive list, not an inclusive one. So, if something isn’t on the list it can’t be copyrighted. The language of the bill is a bit weird. Identifying the bits of a golf course design that are included, and thus protected, strikes me as a surprisingly limited list. For example, it includes a lake, but not a stream. To be honest it looks as though it has not been terribly skilfully drafted – perhaps by a GCA rather than a professional draftsman!” That said, the scope of the bill is fairly limited, simply seeking to extend the protection given to buildings architecture by the 1990 Act to golf course design. As such, the cutoff date for protection is December 1, 1990: nothing designed before this date would be covered by the proposed law. “It corrects an oversight from 1990 when the architectural clause was brought in and the actual building was protected and landscape architecture – or anything except buildings – was specifically excluded,” says golf architect Forrest Richardson, who has been campaigning on the subject for many years, and who has played a role in getting the proposed legislation before Congress. “Right now, the plans are protected, but the finished golf course is not. If the law passes, that will change. But it is important to realise that it is the entire course that is protected, not a feature – if, say, Bill Coore designs a fresh, new bunker that no one has seen before, it will not be protected.” This point from Richardson is at the core of the bill. When first presented with the suggestion of copyright protection for golf design, the natural reaction is to ask, ‘Does that mean that building template holes or ones that in some way replicate the features or strategies of previous ones will be illegal?’ Just as there are said to be only seven different basic plots in the whole of storytelling, golf hole strategy is not a massively complex business: it is impossible to argue that the concept of bunkering different sides of fairway and green, for example, is a sufficiently original concept to justify protecting it. “Copyright protects what is on the page – in the “ Right now, the plans are protected, but the finished golf course is not. If the law passes, that will change” Courses like Pebble Beach are popular among video game, range and simulator businesses Image: Toptracer
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