Tilley v. TJX Companies and Dennis East Intl.

I saw this appeal decision noted in the How Appealling blog for purely procedural reasons (when to certify a defendant class in a proposed class ation suit) but in reading the synopsis of the case I got very conccerned.

The plaintiff alleges that her wallpaper design was illegally copied by Dennis East International. The infringing design was then distributed to retailers (represented by TJX Ompanies as representative of a class of retailer defendants) who sold the wallpaper.

My concern is under what theory are the retailers responsible for selling an infringing product which someone else copied? Is there caselaw extending liability in this way? Does there need to be a claim that the defentants knew or should have known that the design was infringing? Does anyone know if the pleadings for the ase are available online anywhere?

Link to the 1st Circuit appeal decision: http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/03-8001-01A.pdf Roy Murphy \ CSpice: A Mailing List for Clergy Spouses murphy@panix.com \ http://www.panix.com/~murphy/CSpice.html Received on Mon Oct 06 2003 - 21:35:06 GMT