Lucky Break Wishbone Corp. v. Sears Roebuck & Co.

MEMORANDUM *

Appellants Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Young & Rubicam, Inc. (hereinafter “Sears”) appeal the judgment entered for Appellee Lucky Break Wishbone Corp. (“Lucky Break”) following a jury trial. Lucky Break cross-appeals from the district court’s order preventing it from presenting evidence on a part of its indirect profits claim. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.

I

“To establish copyright infringement, the holder of the copyright must prove both valid ownership of the copyright and infringement of that copyright by the alleged infringer.” Entm’t Research v. Genesis Creative Group, 122 F.3d 1211 , 1217 (9th Cir.1997).

Sears contends that the district court erred in ruling on summary judgment that Lucky Break’s wishbone was protectable under the Copyright Act. “To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be original to the author. Original, as the term is used in copyright, means only that the work was independently created by the author (as opposed to copied from other works), and that it possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity.” Feist Pubs., Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., Inc., 499 U.S. 340, 345 , 111 S.Ct. 1282 , 113…

concurring:

I concur in the result.