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Supreme Court Rules on Design of a Useful Article
Fashion, furniture, and other design-oriented companies will take note of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., No. 15-866, 2017 WL 1066261 (March 22, 2017), which resolved a division among the federal circuits on the issue of the separability of designs of useful articles under the Copyright Act. Writing for the majority, Justice Thomas clarified that the design of a useful article need not be physically separable from the article itself in order to be protectable under the Copyright Act. Instead, the design can be protectable if one could conceptually imagine the design as a work of art apart from the useful article.
At issue in Star Athletica was the protectability of sketches of cheerleader uniform designs by Varsity Brands, Inc. and related companies. Varsity had obtained or acquired more than 200 U.S. copyright registrations for two-dimensional designs of various cheerleader uniforms. Varsity sued Star Athletica, another uniform manufacturer, for infringing Varsity's copyrights in five of these designs.
For businesses whose livelihood is tied to the unique, aesthetic qualities of the products they offer, the decision opens the door to enforcement options that either were not available or were unlikely to be successful in the past.
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