Meridian Textiles, Inc. v. Topson Downs of California, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

Appellant Meridian Textiles, Inc. appeals from the district court’s sua sponte entry of summary judgment in favor of Appellees. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

The district court held that Meridian’s copyright in its zebra design, registration number S1479, was invalid because the only differences between Meridian’s design and prior art zebra stripe designs were “in the thickness of the lines and orientation of the pattern.” But there is no evidence that Meridian copied its zebra design from prior art, and the district court may not say as a matter of law that “the differences in the placement of geometric shapes should be regarded as trivial.” N. Coast Indus. v. Jason Maxwell, Inc., 972 F.2d 1031, 1035 (9th Cir.1992). The district court therefore erred in holding the copyright to the zebra design invalid. See id. at 1033 (“All that is needed to satisfy both the Constitution and the statute is that the author contributed something more than a merely trivial variation, something recognizably his own.” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). We decline to affirm the district court on the alternative ground that there is no…