Sweat of the Brow Doctrine Law and Legal Definition
Sweat of the brow doctrine is a principle of copyrights law that is not in use now. According to the principle, copyrights are meant to protect and reward the efforts of an author. The rationale of the doctrine was that copyright was a reward for the hard work that went into compiling facts. This principle was rejected by the U.S Supreme Court in Feist Publ'ns, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340 (U.S. 1991), where the court held that it is originality, not effort, that is the basis of copyright protection.
