I'm thinking of creating a new product which utilizes mnemonics for
language learning. There are others who have already used mnemonics to
do this. Would it be a copyright violation to use the same mnemonics
that they used?

To me it seems like the mnemonic is an idea and therefore is not
copyrightable, however, the creative expression of that idea can be.

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Clarification of Question by simpledavey-ga on 20 Dec 2005 23:14 PST

Maybe an example would help.
Lets say a book publishes the mnemonic:  
barato: cheap, inexpensive
Bar Otto from this cheap canteen.

(example used is from the site http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exharspa.html)

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Clarification of Question by simpledavey-ga on 20 Dec 2005 23:17 PST

On reading my own clarification, I think that copying the mnemonic
directly would be a violation, but if I change it slightly, it would
no longer.

eg: new mnemonic
If you bar Otto, you have to bar every cheap customer.

It seems to me more likely that a mnemonic, which is usually a single
word or a short phrase, would be trademarked rather than copyrighted.
But without knowing the specifics of the case, I doubt that any
meaningful answer can be provided.