In the recent case of Kohus v. Mariol, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit considered the legal standard to be applied in copyright infringement cases to determine whether there is substantial similarity between works.

The Court reviewed the current U.S. case law on substantial similarity and decided to adopt the two step approach taken by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Sturdza v. United Arab Emirates. The first step is the identification of which aspects of the artist’s work, if any, are protectible by copyright. The second step is the determination of whether the allegedly infringing work is substantially similar to the protectible elements in the artist’s work.

Until Kohus v. Mariol, the Sixth Circuit had no legal standard for determining substantial similarity in copyright infringement cases.

For a copy of Kohus v. Mariol, visit:
http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=03a0150p.06

For a copy of Sturdza v. United Arab Emirates
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/200203/00-7279a.txt

Summary by: Sue Diaz

Concerned about your company’s intellectual property rights? Contact Victor Butsky (vbutsky@dww.com) or Jennifer Jannuska (jjannuska@dww.com) at DWW.