Kay Berry, Inc. v. Taylor Gifts, Inc.

421 F.3d 199 (2005)

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Kay Berry, Inc. v. Taylor Gifts, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
421 F.3d 199 (2005)

Facts

Kay Berry, Inc. (plaintiff) was a company that produced accent rocks for gardens. The rocks were cement sculptures with inscribed writings. In 1997, Kay Berry submitted its rock catalogue for copyright registration. The United States Copyright Office issued a copyright-registration certificate to Kay Berry for sculptural works with design and text. One of the accent rocks, called sculpture number 646, had a poem inscribed on it. Taylor Gifts, Inc. (Taylor) (defendant) later began selling a memory stone. The memory stone was a stone-like rectangular object that had the same poem on it as that inscribed on sculpture number 646. Kay Berry sued Taylor for copyright infringement. Taylor moved for summary judgment. The district court granted Taylor’s motion, reasoning, in part, that sculpture number 646 was an expression inseparable from the underlying idea and was therefore not copyrightable. Kay Berry appealed. Kay Berry argued, among other things, that the district court incorrectly concluded that the expression in sculpture number 646 was inseparable from the underlying idea.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Van Antwerpen, J.)

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