Thomas v. Pansy Ellen Products, Inc.

Brenda Thomas (plaintiff) owned a copyright on designs including “My Bear” and “Pastel Playmates” (collectively, the copyrighted designs). Thomas registered her copyright for those designs in April 1986. Thomas sued Pansy Ellen Products, Inc. (Pansy Ellen) (defendant) for copyright infringement in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The parties agreed that in October 1985, Pansy Ellen displayed products accused of infringing the copyrighted designs at a Juvenile Manufacturers Products Association (JMPA) trade show. The parties cross-moved for partial summary judgment as to whether the timing of Pansy Ellen’s JMPA trade-show activity relative to Thomas’s registration barred Thomas from recovering statutory damages, attorney’s fees, and costs (collectively, the contested remedies) under 17 U.S.C. § 412. Thomas argued that Pansy Ellen’s showing of its products at the trade show did not constitute a public display of the copyrighted designs under 17 U.S.C. § 106(5), because trade-show attendance was restricted to JMPA members and because only qualified buyers were permitted to attend. Based on that argument, Thomas asserted that Pansy Ellen’s JMPA trade-show activity did not constitute commencement of copyright infringement and that she therefore registered the copyrighted designs before infringement began. Thomas thus asserted entitlement to a partial summary judgment that § 412 did not bar her from recovering the contested remedies.