I wasn't sure how copyright related to scans of an object either. I understand David's explanation as comparing an image that you create by any means, to a painting or photograph which definitely are protected by the copyright laws. The method of creating the image is not material. And as a matter of fact, you don't have to be owner of the object in the image. Ansel Adams, the famed nature photographer, didn't own Yosemite Nation Park when he did the breathtaking black and white images of the Valley there.

There are "artistic" things you can do in the process of scanning that make your digital file unique. You can manipulate color, brightness, contrast, sharpness. You can use an editing program to rotate, enlarge, and cut out pieces of the image. I know most of the time, when you scan a chip you are just trying to preserve the way an item in your collection appears to you. Or maybe to convey to others, what a particular design looks like. It does appear that what you create in scanning is a "work of art" and deserves copyright protection.

I can remember when I was an engineer, the printed circuit board layouts that we designed (copper on fiberglass) were deemed a work of art and were copyrighted. You could submit a picture of each to the U.S. Copyright Office if you wanted and then mark the © in copper on the board. Our company didn't do it as we learned that the copyright was automatic and if it were ever contested, you could do the paperwork and pay the $50 fee to claim it at a later time.

If you want to claim ownership of the design of the object itself, you have to go through the process of filing an application for a Design Patent at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That's what the designer of the chip, or even the mold design could do to protect against improper use of his creative work. I think that's the key to understanding that you can claim the right to protection against use of creative effort you put into a scan without necessarily owning the particular chip shown in the scan. Patents can be assigned to a new owner, and if you work for someone in creating a design, usually your employment usually requires you to assign the rights to the patent to your employer, who pays your salary.

By the way, if you want to create the copyright symbol in text form on your Windows PC, you can hold down the ALT key and type 0169, using the numeric keypad on your keyboard. Like .

This post © 2014, Don Lueders