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Designer Skin LLC v. S & L Vitamins, Inc., et al.
Unauthorized internet reseller of plaintiff’s products is not guilty of trademark infringement, and does not cause actionable initial interest confusion, by using plaintiff’s trademarks in meta tags of website at which plaintiff’s and its competitors’ products are sold, and in...

Copyright - Compilation - Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions - Updated January 19, 2008

2007 WL 4207923 (S.D. Cal., Nov. 20, 2007)

After trial, court dismissed copyright infringement claims advanced by plaintiff against a competitor as a result of defendant’s alleged use of elements of plaintiff’s website on its own website.  Both parties operated websites at which they sold ‘changing portraits’ that contained antique photos that ‘changed’ into haunted spirits when viewed from different angles.  The court found that plaintiff did not possess a copyright in the individual elements of his site, which included unoriginal fonts, a ‘buy it now’ button, and the frame used to display the ‘changing portraits’ offered for sale on plaintiff’s website.  The court held that plaintiff did possess a copyright in the assembled compilation of these elements on his website.  Because defendant’s website was not ‘substantially similar’ to plaintiff’s, however, the court found that defendant was not guilty of copyright infringement.

The court spent the balance of its opinion addressing claims each of the competitors asserted against the other arising, inter alia, out of derogatory statements each made concerning the other, and claims and statements they made concerning their own activities, history and accomplishments.  These claims, including claims for defamation, false advertising and unfair competition, are of little interest to the legal community at large, and will not be discussed here.  Those interested can read the court’s decision which, in large part, dismissed these claims and counterclaims.

Case No. 06cv1445 BTM (S.D. Cal., August 16, 2007)

Website containing compilation of online deals is protected by copyright as a compilation, as a result of plaintiff’s selection and arrangement, inter alia, of the deals included in the compilation.  Because the individual listings of the deals themselves are not protected by plaintiff’s copyright, however, in the absence of “bodily appropriation of [plaintiff’s] expression” or the “unauthorized use of substantially the entire item,” the use of a portion of those deals in the website of another will not rendered the defendant guilty of copyright infringement.  As a result, the court dismissed most of the copyright infringement claims advanced by Bensbargains.net, a website which posts compilations of online deals, against a competitor, which it accused of copying its listings of deals.  While the defendant did post on its site a number of the deals found in plaintiff’s compilations, it also posted other deals.  As to all compilations as to which the defendant copied less than 70% of the listings, the court dismissed plaintiff’s copyright infringement claim, finding defendant’s site was not sufficiently similar to sustain an infringement claim.  Only plaintiff’s claims as to those compilations as to which defendant copied over 70% of the listings, and those listings, in turn, comprised over 70% of defendant’s own compilation, were allowed to proceed.

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