Re: doll manufacturing copyright infringement claims

From: Steven Jamar <sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu>
Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 11:55:01 -0500

Jessica,

Check out Entertainment Research Group v. Genesis Creative Group, 122 F3d 1211 (9th Cir. 1997), cert. denied 523 US 1021 (1998).

In that case one party made costumes from cartoon characters and the owner of the copyright in the cartoon characters then licensed someone else to also make costumes. The court held that the first one to make what were either derivative works or just plain copies (taking into account the change of medium) could not then tie up the copyright of the original copyright holder in the cartoon character from making or licensing others to make copies or derivative works, absent, at least, an exclusive license to the first costume-maker to make such derivative works (or copies as the case may be).

> Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 16:45:23 -0500
> Message-ID: <redirect-2173258[_at_]cni.org>
> From: "Jessica R. Friedman" <jrfriedman[_at_]litproplaw.com>
> Subject: [CNI-(C)] doll manufacturing copyright infringement claims
>
> Is anyone aware of any case in which a toy/doll manufacturer who
> had been given two-dimensional drawings of established characters, and
> who
> had created its own patterns to turn those drawings into
> three-dimensional
> dolls, sued the owner of the copyright in the original characters for
> infringement, for subsequently having the dolls made by another
> manufacturer?
>

Prof. Steven D. Jamar                               vox:  202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                     fax:  202-806-8567
2900 Van Ness Street NW                   mailto:sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu

Washington, DC 20008 http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar/

"If we are to receive full service from government, the universities must give us trained [people]. That means a constant reorientation of university instruction and research not for the mere purpose of increasing technical proficiency but for the purpose of keeping abreast with social and economic change. . . . Government is no better than its [people]."

William O. Douglas Received on Fri Feb 06 2004 - 21:55:01 GMT