Mark Landsberg v. Scrabble Crossword Game Players, Inc., Selchow & Richter Company, and Crown Publishers, Inc.

In this second appeal, defendants challenge a summary judgment for plaintiff following our remand in Landsberg v. Scrabble Crossword Game Players, Inc., 736 F.2d 485, 489 (9th Cir.1984) (.Landsberg I). We affirm the judgment as modified.

Plaintiff Mark Landsberg wrote a book on strategy for winning at the Scrabble board game. He contacted defendant Selchow & Righter Co. (S & R), the owner of the Scrabble trademark, to request permission to use the mark. In response, S & R requested a copy of the manuscript, which Landsberg provided. After prolonged negotiations between them regarding the possible publication by S & R of the manuscript were broken off, S & R brought out its own Scrabble strategy book. Lands-berg sued S & R, its subsidiary Scrabble Crossword Game Players, Inc., Crown Publishers, Inc., the publishers of S & R’s book, and several individual defendants in state court for copyright infringement and breach of contract. Defendants successfully removed under 28 U.S.C. § 1441 (a) (1982). After a bench trial, the district court found that: S & R’s book was based upon Landsberg’s manuscript; the two works were substantially similar; defendant S & R had copied both the ideas…