Cub Club Investment, LLC v. Apple, Inc.
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CUB CLUB INVESTMENT, LLC, Case No. 21-cv-06948-VC
Plaintiff,
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
v. DISMISS
APPLE INC, Re: Dkt. No. 54 Defendant.
Cub Club Investment created an app that allowed people to send racially diverse emoji. According to the complaint, when Apple learned of the app, it liked the idea—so much so, in fact, that it copied it. But even assuming the allegations in the complaint are true, the idea is all that Apple copied. Because Cub Club has not alleged the copying of any protectable element of its emoji, the motion to dismiss the copyright claim is granted. And because Cub Club has not adequately alleged trade dress infringement, the remaining claims are dismissed as well. 1. “[C]opyright law does not forbid all copying.” Rentmeester v. Nike, Inc., 883 F.3d 1111, 1117 (9th Cir. 2018), overruled on other grounds by Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin, 952 F.3d 1051 (9th Cir. 2020). To survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must allege that the defendant “copied enough of the protected expression . . . to establish unlawful appropriation.” Id. at 1118. In…