Copyrightability of Greeting Cards
Whatever the occasion, a well-selected greeting card with just the right words and images can make the recipient laugh, cry, or want to give the sender a hug. They can pack an emotional punch in myriad creative ways across various formats and mediums. The original, creative expression contained in greeting cards makes them protectable by copyright. This blog post will explore the evolution of greeting cards as creative works and the copyrightability of greeting cards.
History and Tradition of Greeting Cards
The origin story of greeting cards dates back to ancient times when people would exchange symbolic gifts, like in ancient Rome, where people would exchange gold-coated laurel or olive branches as gifts to celebrate the new year.
The modern greeting card can be traced back to 1843 when John Callcott Horsley sent a Christmas card to his friend Sir Henry Cole. By 1860, Christmas cards were being sold with attached ornaments and verses. In the United States, a Bostonian named Louis Prang popularized the sale of greeting cards, which flourished in the late-nineteenth century until European card makers dominated the American greeting card market.
The U.S. greeting card market was revitalized during the First and Second World Wars, as loved ones communicated with each other across continents. In the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, cardmaking companies, such as Hallmark, innovated the card-making industry by introducing animation, three-dimensional effects, and sound effects to delight card recipients.
Today, greeting cards are enjoyed all around the world. Various cultures enrich the world of greeting cards with a variety of styles and traditions, such as Nengajo New Year’s cards in Japan or the Nigerian custom of sending colorful, fabric-patterned Naija wedding invitations. Now that we understand the historical tradition of greeting cards, we can dive into how copyright law applies to greeting cards.
Greeting Cards as Copyrightable Works
Greeting cards can be protected by copyright law under different categories of copyrightable works, including literary works, visual works and audiovisual works. According to Section 618.4(C) of the U.S. Copyright Office’s Compendium Section 618.4(C) Copyright Office Compendium, greeting cards can be classified as two-dimensional visual works, which would also protect the card’s accompanying text. Three-dimensional elements of a greeting card, such as pop-up elements, would also be protected. According to Section 503.1(B) of the Compendium, electronic greeting cards are classified as an audiovisual work because of their animated graphics and drawings.
Many greeting cards could also be considered a compilation work, which is defined in Section 101 of the Copyright Act as “a work formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship.”
For example, a Valentine’s Day greeting card could include a licensed illustration of Snoopy, the world-famous cartoon beagle created by Charles M. Schultz that is protected by copyright, and arrange the illustration alongside other elements, such as Snoopy–dressed as a detective–holding a handheld magnifying glass over a heart. The inside of the Valentine’s Day card could include the following text: “I’ve been snooping around, and you’re the best I’ve found! Happy Valentine’s Day!” In this example, the selection, arrangement, and coordination of these elements would qualify the greeting card as a compilation work.
Since a greeting card can clearly qualify as a type of copyright protected work, let’s further explore the copyrightability of greeting cards.
Fixation, Human Authorship, and Originality Requirement
For a work to be protected under copyright, the Copyright Act requires that a work be fixed in a tangible medium, that it is authored by a human, and that it is original. Most, if not all, greeting cards meet these requirements for copyright protection.
Fixation
The first requirement for copyright protection is that the expression be fixed in a tangible medium, which is easily met when the expression takes the form of a physical greeting card. But even if a greeting card exists in digital form, it is still fixed in a tangible medium like a computer chip.
Human Authorship
In the age of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the requirement of human authorship for copyright protection has become more relevant than ever. Based upon the U.S. Copyright Office’s January 2025 Copyright & Artificial Intelligence Report on Copyrightability, the Office continued its position that it would not register works solely generated by AI.
If someone prompted a large language model or an image generator powered by AI to generate text or images for a greeting card, then those AI-generated elements of the card would need to be disclosed because the Office would only grant a registration that covers the scope of human authorship in the work.
Originality
For a greeting card to meet the originality requirement under copyright law, the card must exhibit a minimal amount of creativity. This threshold for originality is very low. For example, a card with a red heart in the center of a card or a card cover that simply states, “Happy Valentine’s Day!” with no inscription within the card, would likely not be minimally creative enough to meet the originality requirement. If, however, the cover has an illustration of a red heart to seem like the heart is woven out of yarn by two lovers holding sewing equipment, these expressions would definitely satisfy the originality requirement.
The Idea-Expression Dichotomy and the Merger Doctrine
When thinking about the originality requirement under copyright law for greeting cards, one key point is to remember that copyright law only protects expressions. Under copyright law, the idea-expression dichotomy separates an idea (which is not protected by copyright) from the creative expression of an idea (which is protected by copyright). Similarly, the merger doctrine states that certain elements are unprotectable when the idea and expression are so related that there is only one or limited ways to express the idea.
Applied to greeting cards, the merger doctrine would apply to cards that only use commonly used phrases to convey certain greetings, such as a text-only card that reads “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Anniversary”. The idea of wishing someone a delightful day on their birthday is very limited to the number of expressive ways to convey that idea.
It’s important to note that short phrases can be protected under copyright law. The brevity of a short phrase or a poem contained on a greeting card would not alone preclude those elements from copyright protections, because brevity is not the standard to determine copyrightability. So, a short phrase, haiku, or poem, or other brief message contained in a greeting card could be protected by copyright. The more applicable requirement to determine the copyrightability of short phrases would be whether such a phrase fulfills the low threshold requirement of originality, including under doctrines like the idea-expression and merger doctrines, mentioned above.
Scènes à Faire
Under copyright law, the scènes à faire doctrine applies to clichés and stock devices that are not copyrightable. In the context of greeting cards, the scènes à faire doctrine would apply to standard clichés or settings associated with a particular holiday, making these elements unprotectable. However, specific expressions of those stock elements would be protected by copyright law.
For instance, most Americans identify “Santa Claus” as a heavy-set, white-bearded man who wears a red-and-white winter costume and carries a sack of gifts. While a depiction of those general and obvious characteristics of Santa Claus would not be protectable under the scènes à faire doctrine, the particular way an artist illustrates the red-and-white costume and the sack of gifts would likely be protected.
In Taylor Corporation v. Four Seasons Greetings LLC (2003), the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard a dispute where the Taylor Corporation, a greeting card manufacturer, sued its competitor, Four Seasons Greetings, for copyright infringement of six of Taylor’s card designs. Four Seasons Greetings argued that its cards did not infringe Taylor Corporation’s copyrights because the allegedly similar elements of the cards involved unprotectable stock elements and there were only very few ways to express various holiday themes in the cards, such as a cart full of vegetables to signify the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Eighth Circuit ruled in favor of the Taylor Corporation, finding that the parties’ cards were substantially similar. Most notably, Judge Riley’s majority opinion agreed with the district court’s analysis that the scène à faire doctrine and the merger doctrine did not apply in this context because there were numerous ways to depict the holiday designs at issue. The case illustrates that even with common stock elements, copyright law’s requirement for minimal creativity in the expression of even these stock elements is a very low threshold.
Conclusion
When considering the scope of copyrightability for greeting cards, it’s clear that in most instances they are protected by copyright.
A greeting card contains artistic expression that easily meets copyrightability requirements of fixation in a tangible medium, originality, and (unless wholly generated by artificial intelligence) human authorship. As anyone who remembers designing a card for a loved one, such as when kids create, draw, and write out cards for mom, dad, or any other loved relative, the act of creation or curation involved in creating a greeting card can communicate how much the recipient means to the card giver. Many people treasure and keep meaningful greeting cards they have received from loved ones and colleagues, which often demonstrates the inherent expressive value of these cards.
To learn more about the basics of copyright protection, visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Copyright Law Explained pages.
If you aren’t already a member of the Copyright Alliance, you can join today by completing our Individual Creator Members membership form! Members gain access to monthly newsletters, educational webinars, and so much more — all for free!