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Magic Marketing v. Mailing Services of Pittsburgh

634 F. Supp. 769 (1986)

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Magic Marketing v. Mailing Services of Pittsburgh

United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
634 F. Supp. 769 (1986)

SH

Facts

Magic Marketing, Inc. (plaintiff) entered into a contract with Mailing Services of Pittsburgh, Inc. (defendant) pursuant to which Mailing Services supplied certain envelopes to Magic Marketing according to Magic Marketing’s designs. Some portion of the printing work was subcontracted out to American Paper (defendant) by Mailing Services. Magic Marketing brought suit against Mailing Services and American Paper for copyright infringement. Magic Marketing alleged that Mailing Services had infringed its copyright in the envelopes by selling copies to other customers without authorization and, further, that American Paper had manufactured and supplied the infringing copies. The envelopes in question were conventional in size and contained standard instructions to the postmaster printed on the front. One envelope bore a horizontal black stripe with the words “priority message: contents require immediate attention” printed within the stripe, as well as another shorter black stripe encasing the word “telegram.” The other envelope had no stripe, but the words “gift check enclosed” were printed over the window. American Paper filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the envelopes lacked a sufficient level of originality to warrant copyright protection.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Ziegler, J.)

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