Ty, Inc. v. Publications International Ltd.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
292 F.3d 512 (2002)
- Written by Sarah Holley, JD
Facts
Ty, Inc. (plaintiff) manufactured the popular Beanie Babies series of beanbag animals and registered each for protection. Publications International Ltd. (defendant) published a series of books that contained photographs of Beanie Babies. In particular, For the Love of Beanie Babies was a large book with more than 150 Beanie Babies pictured. Each picture was accompanied by a descriptive comment directed toward a child audience. Meanwhile, Beanie Babies Collector’s Guide was a small book with Beanie Babies similarly pictured and contained information directed toward an adult audience, namely, collectors. Each picture was accompanied with the release date, the retired date, the estimated value, and other information relevant to a collector. Ty brought suit against Publications International for copyright infringement. The district court rejected Publications International’s defense that its use of photographs of Beanie Babies in its guide books was fair use and held in favor of Ty. Publications International appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Posner, J.)
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