Cadavers in the Courtroom

A recent spate of US litigation has explored property rights in the arrangement of human cadavers, posed in life-like positions. The bodies are partially stripped of skin and muscle tissue to reveal layers below, and are shown skateboarding, dancing and in other poses. The cadavers have been preserved through a process of polymerization called "plastination". The first such suit (Plastination Co Inc v Premier Exhibitions Inc, No 1:05-cv-0594, ND Ohio, Feb. 16, 2006) recently settled after arbitration, involved conflicting claims by a company owned by a German anatomist, Plastination Co Inc (Plastination), and an Atlanta-based firm, Premier Exhibitions. Plastination is the operator of the popular "BodyWorlds" exhibits, one of which was recently in Toronto at the Ontario Science Centre. Plastination claimed to have copyright in the partially dissected and preserved cadavers themselves, as well as in the way the cadavers were partially dissected and in their display in "unique and informative positions". The founder of Plastination was the original inventor and patent holder on the process of plastination, but the patent has since expired. After that expiry, a number of competing exhibitors with a similar theme, including Premier Exhibitions, entered the market. The day the first lawsuit settled, and perhaps reflecting what one commentator referred to as "fierce international competition", another lawsuit was launched (Premier Exhibitions Inc v Exhibit Human: The Wonders Within Inc No 1:06-cv-00812, ND Ga, April 6, 2006), this time by Premier Exhibitions as plaintiff, against a Michigan-based licensee, based largely on contractual claims. If this dispute is also settled, observers may feel deprived of a judicial pronouncement on some of the intriguing intellectual property claims made by Plastination. For a news article, see: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1145538532408 For information on plastination, visit: http://www.koerperwelten.de/en/pages/plastination.asp Summary by: James Kosa