U.S. Court of Appeals Finds Copyright in Photographs Not Infringed

In Ets-Hokin v. Skyy Spirits Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) found that the copyright protection in photographs of a vodka bottle was limited by the doctrines of merger and scenes a faire because of the narrow range of artistic expression available in the context of a photographs of commercial product such as a vodka bottle. The plaintiff had taken a series of photographs of a blue vodka bottle for use in a marketing campaign. Years later, the defendant had other photographers take more photographs of the bottle for other marketing material. The plaintiff argued that these photographs infringed the copyright in his photographs. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted summary judgment in favour of the defendant on the basis that the merger doctrine prevents a copyrighted work from being protected from infringement if the idea underlying the work can only be expressed in one way. In such a case, the idea and expression of the work are said to have "merged". In addition, the doctrine of scenes a faire provides that courts will not protect a copyrighted work where the expression in the work flows from a commonplace idea. For a copy of the decision, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?H118224F3