In Feist, the Supreme Court denied copyright protection to the alphabetical listing of names and telephone numbers in the white pages of a telephone book. Like Feist, Defendant is limited in its ability to be creative. Thus, even the low threshold of originality has not been met. Furthermore, Defendant's bingo numbers fail the test of originality because they consist of an arbitrary selection of numbers. See 17 U.S.C. 101.
Compilations are subject to certain limitations, however.
Because the selection of random numbers was facilitated by the computer, arguably, only the computer program is entitled to protection. Despite any originality and creativity embodied in the computer program itself, the bingo card numbers as a whole fail to demonstrate sufficient selectivity. Having determined that the numbers on Defendant's bingo cards are not sufficiently original or creative to merit copyright protection, the Court will not address Plaintiff's arguments regarding the denial of copyright protection to the bingo card numbers on the grounds of the absence of an expression, or the numbers' functional features. In light of the above discussion, the Court finds that the presumption of originality created by the copyright registration extends to Defendant's bingo cards only. The bingo card numbers, in and of themselves, lack originality.