Re: Tilley v. TJX Companies and Dennis East Intl.

Sec. 106 prohibits unauthorized distribution as well as unauthorized reproduction. There is no scienter requirement, i.e. no need to prove that the infringement was willful. It makes a difference in the determination of damages, however. A sharp distributor will have an indemnification agreement from the wholesaler; and even without an agreement, could sue the wholesaler for indemnification on these facts.

John Noble

At 1:35 PM -0400 10/6/03, Roy Murphy wrote:
>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
>
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Received on Tue Oct 07 2003 - 00:55:03 GMT