DE MINIMIS TEST
de minimis test.Copyright. A judicial test for determining whether a contributor to a joint
work is an author for legal purposes, based on whether the joint effort itself is an original
expression that qualifies for copyright protection. • This test has been rejected in favor of the
copyrightability test by most courts that have addressed the issue. Cf. COPYRIGHTABILITY
TEST. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 41(3). C.J.S. Trade-Marks, Trade-Names,
and Unfair Competition § 190.] [Blacks Law 8th]