Should tweets be copyrightable?

First amendment law was one of my favorite classes in college–copyrights were a particularly fascinating topic. Copyrights protect original works, owners of which control the right to reproduce, license and distribute said works. A while back there was some talk about whether or not Tweets are copyrightable content. Some tweets are catchy, clever and worthy of admiration, but this does not mean they are copyrightable.

In my humble opinion, Tweets do not meet the threshold for attaining copyrights for the following reasons:

• They are largely fact (i.e.–I’m at Starbucks drinking a latte or I think the Padres will win the World Series) . Facts are not copyrightable content.
• Tweets are property of the public domain at the time of dissemination. A foundational goal of Twitter is to get your messages re-tweeted, so claiming rights over their distribution is futile to say the least.
• They are only 140 characters. Copyrights were created to protect substantial works of art like books, movies, songs, paintings and a whole spectrum of artistic mediums. The truncated nature of Tweets do not lend themselves to display artistic brilliance worthy of legal protection. (Not that some aren’t hilarious and quite brilliant.)