Recently a law firm made headlines by [proudly boasting](http://www.dozier-internet-law-pc.com/)[1] it had successfully "tested" in court that a Cease-and-Desist letter could be copyrighted, and, by extension, publicly posting a Cease-and-Desist letter you receive if it had been copyrighted that way was unlawful (and subjected you to immediate, presumably unpleasant legal action). [1] Gosh, I sure hope I don't get sued by this random law firm for pointing and laughing at them. *Sigh*. This *is* America -- dumber things happen here every day. Naturally, the usual suspects online spun into a panic-filled frenzy, suggesting that now you can't even try to get help from the internet community when slapped with a C&D letter, if it's copyrighted. Fortunately, it looks like another lawyer has [introduced some sanity into the situation](http://www.joegratz.net/archives/2008/01/26/federal-court-doesnt-quite-recognize-copyright-in-cd-letter/) by pointing out that 1) the court ruling actually *didn't* give the offending lawyer what he really wanted (he was trying to use copyright law to force a pre-litigation subpoena to determine the identity of someone he clearly wants to harass and threaten directly), and 2) the court specifically *did not* address the issue of whether claiming a copyright (or even registering it) on a simple Cease-and-Desist letter protects it automatically from being posted online as a form of "see what these bastards are doing to me?" counter-shot.