Nola Spice Designs, LLC v. Haydel Enterprises
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
783 F.3d 527 (2015)
- Written by Ann Wooster, JD
Facts
A Mardi Gras tradition involved parade participants throwing plastic-bead strands to onlookers, who created bead dogs by twisting the strands into a dog shape. The owners of Haydel’s Bakery in New Orleans, Haydel Enterprises (bakery owners) (plaintiffs) commissioned an artistic work titled “Bead Dog” as a bakery mascot. The design was a stylized dog formed by spheres that looked like Mardi Gras beads, and the dog was wearing a beaded collar. The bakery owners obtained a certificate of copyright registration for jewelry design and sold bead-dog jewelry made out of sterling silver through the bakery, an online retailer, and a retail store. A jewelry store called Nola Spice Designs, LLC (jewelry store) (defendant) sold necklaces and earrings online featuring traditional, bead-dog trinkets made by hand out of beads and wire. The bakery owners brought an action and claimed that the jewelry store infringed the bakery’s copyright certificate for the bead-dog jewelry design. The bakery owners argued that the jewelry store violated the Copyright Act by factually copying the bakery owners’ valid copyright on the bead-dog jewelry design with a substantially similar design. The jewelry store moved for summary judgment on this claim. The district court granted summary judgment to the jewelry store. The bakery owners appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Higginson, J.)
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