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Cengage Advantage Books: Fundamentals of Business Law Today 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller
Edition 10ISBN: 978-1305075443Cengage Advantage Books: Fundamentals of Business Law Today 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller
Edition 10ISBN: 978-1305075443 Exercise 16
Inhale, Inc. v. Starbuzz Tobacco, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 739 F.3d 446 (2014)
FACTS A hookah is a device for smoking tobacco by filtering the smoke through water. The water is held in a container at the base of the hookah. Inhale, Inc., claimed to hold a registered copyright on a hookah that covered the shape of the hookah's water container. Inhale filed a suit in a federal district court against Starbuzz Tobacco, Inc., alleging copyright infringement for the sale of hookahs with identically shaped water containers. The court determined that the shape of the water container on Inhale's hookahs was not copyrightable and issued a summary judgment in Starbuzz's favor. Inhale appealed.
ISSUE Was Inhale's registered copyright infringed by Starbuzz's sale of hookahs with identically shaped water containers?
DECISION No. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court's judgment.
REASON The federal appellate court stated, "The shape of a container is not independent of the container's utilitarian function-to hold the contents within its shape-because the shape accomplishes the function." The water container on a hookah is a "useful article." Thus, the shape of the container is copyrightable only if it incorporates sculptural features that can be identified separately from the container's useful aspect. Inhale argued that the shape of its hookah water container was distinctive. In an earlier case involving bottle designs, the U.S. Copyright Office reasoned that whether an item's shape is distinctive does not affect a determination of whether the item's sculptural features can be separated from the item's utility. With regard to Inhale's water container, "The shape of the alleged artistic features and of the useful article are one and the same." Thus, the shape of the water container on Inhale's hookahs was not copyrightable.
WHAT IF THE FACTS WERE DIFFERENT? Suppose that Inhale had claimed a copyright in the design of a vodka bottle instead of a hookah. Would the result have been different? Why or why not?
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 739 F.3d 446 (2014)
FACTS A hookah is a device for smoking tobacco by filtering the smoke through water. The water is held in a container at the base of the hookah. Inhale, Inc., claimed to hold a registered copyright on a hookah that covered the shape of the hookah's water container. Inhale filed a suit in a federal district court against Starbuzz Tobacco, Inc., alleging copyright infringement for the sale of hookahs with identically shaped water containers. The court determined that the shape of the water container on Inhale's hookahs was not copyrightable and issued a summary judgment in Starbuzz's favor. Inhale appealed.
ISSUE Was Inhale's registered copyright infringed by Starbuzz's sale of hookahs with identically shaped water containers?
DECISION No. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court's judgment.
REASON The federal appellate court stated, "The shape of a container is not independent of the container's utilitarian function-to hold the contents within its shape-because the shape accomplishes the function." The water container on a hookah is a "useful article." Thus, the shape of the container is copyrightable only if it incorporates sculptural features that can be identified separately from the container's useful aspect. Inhale argued that the shape of its hookah water container was distinctive. In an earlier case involving bottle designs, the U.S. Copyright Office reasoned that whether an item's shape is distinctive does not affect a determination of whether the item's sculptural features can be separated from the item's utility. With regard to Inhale's water container, "The shape of the alleged artistic features and of the useful article are one and the same." Thus, the shape of the water container on Inhale's hookahs was not copyrightable.
WHAT IF THE FACTS WERE DIFFERENT? Suppose that Inhale had claimed a copyright in the design of a vodka bottle instead of a hookah. Would the result have been different? Why or why not?
Explanation
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Copyright:
Copyright is one of an Intel...
Cengage Advantage Books: Fundamentals of Business Law Today 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller
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