Alterra Excess & Surplus v. Estate of Buckminster Fuller

The Estate of Buckminster Fuller (Estate), through its co-executors, appeals from a judgment on the pleadings holding that Alterra Excess and Surplus Insurance Company (Alterra) had no duty to defend, and therefore no duty to indemnify, its insured in an action brought by the Estate against the insured. The basis of the judgment was that an exclusion in the Alterra policy, referred to by all below as the “intellectual property” exclusion, applied to preclude any obligation on the part of Alterra. We reach the same conclusion, and we affirm.

BACKGROUND

General Historical Background

R. Buckminster Fuller, nicknamed “Bucky” (Fuller), was a celebrated designer, author, and inventor. He was credited with many, and diverse, creations, and was particularly well known for popularizing the geodesic dome. He died in 1983. According to the Estate’s own pleadings, in 1985 it registered its claim as the successor in interest to all of Fuller’s rights, and has “licensed those rights on many occasions. The licensees include Apple Computer, which used Bucky’s image (along with those of John Lennon, Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Frank Lloyd Wright and others) in its…