Cases Flashcards
Feist
Originality=independent creation + modest amount of creativity (white pages)
Alfred Bell
Originality doesn’t require intent to be original
Bleistein
Aesthetic neutrality–doesn’t have to be non-commercial or “art” to be protected.
Mannion v Coors
Baseball star billboard: photos can be original in timing, rendition, and composition (creation of subject)
Tryable question of fact on aesthetic appeal
Eldred
Idea/expression dichotomy necessary to reconcile copyright with the first amendment
Alexander v. Haley
Roots case: some elements are indispensable or standard in a given topic (scenes a faire)
Bill Diodata v. Kate Spade
women’s shoes sitting on toilet common trope
Baker v. Selden
Can copyright a book about process, but can’t copyright the process itself (accounting system)
Fairey v. AP
Hope poster: question about whether pose was copyrightable or scenes a faire in US political iconography. Can’t copyright style
LaChappelle v Rihanna
Whether what’s common is S+M scenes a faire or infringement
Hoehling
Can’t copyright historical facts, but copyright estoppel if I’ve claimed something is fact
Lotus v Boreland
Menu hierarchy is “method of operation” under 102(b), like buttons on a VCR (CA1)
Oracle v Google
102(b) just restates the idea/expression distinction; APIs protectable. Original and creative declaring codes and structure, sequence, and organization (SSOs) of Oracle’s 37 Java API packages are © protected, not just method of operation
Big circuit split. More plaintiff-friendly than Altai (but uses that test)
Anderson
Characters protectable if well-delineated (Rocky)
DC Comics v Towle
Batmobile protectable: 1) physical and conceptual qualities, 2) sufficiently delineated, 3) especially distinctive/unique elements of expression
Barnhard
Mannequins: test for conceptual separability whether form dictated by function
Keiselstein Cord
Belt buckles: test for conceptual separability which aspect is primary
Newman Barnhard dissent
Test for conceptual separability temporal displacement
Brandir
Bike rack–not conceptually separable because creator not “uninhibited by functional considerations” (intent of creator test)
Pivot Point
“Hungry look” mannequins protectable because creator had a lot of artistic discretion (intent of creator test)
Star Athletica
Conceptual separability if 1) can be perceived as art separate from the useful article and 2) would qualify as a protectable work on its own (doesn’t have to be equally useful or fully functioning)
Shine v Childs
Freedom Tower case: ordinary observer “total concept and feel” test
Liebskind
Zigzagging Jewish museum in Berlin resembles Australian museum. Never litigated, but public shaming
Lindsay v RMST
Filmmaker still author even though he didn’t handle cameras–creative control and veto decision-making
Thomson v Larson
Larson didn’t intend dramaturg to be considered join author (though she got paid for copyrightable contribution)
Aalmuhammed v Lee
consultant on Malcolm X movie made copyrightable contribution but was not an “author” – control, objective manifestation of shared intent, audience appeal turns on both contributions and you can’t tell the share
Cybersound
One joint author can’t grant an exclusive license because that’s limiting the rights of other joint authors (CA9)
CCNV v Reid (SC)
12 factors on whether someone is an employee for purposes of work for hire:
- Hiring party’s right to control
- Skill required
- Source of tools
- Location of labor
- Duration of relationship
- Right to assign additional projects
- Control over hours
- Method of payment
- Right to hire assistants
- Business of hiring party
- Employee benefits
- Tax treatment
Avtec (CA4)
Scope of employment test: kind of work employed to perform, authorized space and time, at least in part to serve employer
King
speech case: for purposes of mandator notice, publication only if tangible copies distributed to public or displayed in a way that invites unrestricted copying
Golan
URAA taking works out of the public domain not beyond Congress’s power