There is a concept in copyright law of a minimum size below which something cannot have been a copyrightable work.... The interesting question, of course, is what is that limit.
Well... it is an interesting question... I imagine it is highly subjective and depends on the individual case in question. There's one fairly public example: a certain haiku used for email certification. The basic idea of this system is that email senders would include this haiku in x-headers, and mail relays would only allow such email through. Then, the terms of use for the copyright liscense are, in effect, that the mail is not spam. Thus, if you send spam without this header, it will get routed off into the void, and if you do use this header for spam, then you are violating copyright, and, thus, remedies are available.
It probably won't work, but it's an interesting idea, and it seems apropos of the question.
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