Norris Industries, Inc. v. International Telephone and Telegraph Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
696 F.2d 918 (1983)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Norris Industries, Inc. (Norris) (plaintiff) applied for copyright registration of a wheel cover that simulated a wire wheel. Norris’s application was rejected by the Copyright Office because it was deemed to be a utilitarian article without separable copyrightable aspects. The patent rejection aside, Norris sued International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT) (defendant), alleging copyright and patent infringement. The Register of Copyrights (the register) joined in the suit for the purpose of contesting registrability. Both ITT and the register moved for partial summary judgment on the copyright counts. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida granted partial summary judgment and declared both the registered and the unregistered copyrights invalid as a matter of law. Norris appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Roney, J.)
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