Amini Innovation Corp. v. Anthony California, Inc.

439 F.3d 1365 (2006)

From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Amini Innovation Corp. v. Anthony California, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
439 F.3d 1365 (2006)

Facts

Amini Innovation Corp. (Amini) (plaintiff), a seller of bedroom furniture, held copyright registrations for carved ornamental woodwork incorporated into several bedroom-furniture items. Amini also owned a US design patent (the design patent) for a design of a bed frame. Anthony California, Inc. (Anthony) (defendant) likewise sold bedroom furniture. Amini contacted James Chang, Anthony’s president, to communicate Amini’s belief that Anthony was infringing both Amini’s copyrights and the design patent. Anthony disagreed with Amini’s position and refused to stop selling its accused products. Amini then sued Anthony in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, asserting six counts of copyright infringement and one count of design-patent infringement. During discovery, Amini adduced some evidence that Chang had attended trade shows at which Amini displayed its copyrighted designs. Following the completion of discovery, Anthony moved for a summary judgment of noninfringement as to all counts. Regarding the copyright counts, the district court held that the elements of each copyrighted work were not original and that the elements’ overall selection and arrangement was likewise not original. Regarding the design-patent count, the district court observed that Anthony’s accused bed frame lacked four orbs and bed posts appearing in the claimed design. The district court therefore granted Anthony’s summary-judgment motion in its entirety. Amini appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Rader, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 816,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership