Berkla

ORDER

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY

All art is but imitation of nature.

Taking Seneca’s admonition to heart, plaintiff, Dennis Berkla, .has established electronic databases (Garden Hose) containing virtual leaves, blades of grass, flowers, pine cones and the like which constitute a software “nozzle,” which is then digitally “sprayed” to create computerized, realistic pictures of plants, trees, forests, gardens on the computer screen. After supplying some of these databases to defendant Corel for possible inclusion in upcoming Corel software revisions, and after having had Corel reject Berkla’s submissions. Berkla became aware that Corel-DRAW 8, with its application program PHOTO-PAINT 8, contained database images similar to Berkla’s. Corel’s application program performed essentially the same tasks as set forth above. Berkla thereafter sued Corel (Second Amended Complaint) for:

1. Copyright Violation

a. the direct uploading of 79 Berkla files into Corel’s systems with subsequent dissemination to beta testers;

b. the individual components, e.g., leaves, grasses, branches, trunks, pine cones and so forth, of the Corel release were substantially similar to those in Garden Hose 1.5,…