Among the disputed items are nonreusable bingo cards typically sold by Defendant to game operators in series of 9,000 cards. The numbers on Defendant's bingo cards are generated by computer. The computer program has been designed to comply with certain criteria consistent with the rules of bingo. Commands minimizing multiple winners, insuring that numbers in each row appear with the same frequency, and removing apparent patterns from bingo cards have also been programmed. With the exception of these rules, the order of numbers appearing on Defendant's bingo car is random.
Verifiers match the numbers randomly selected during the game with the numbers on the cards in play.
Customers are therefore unable to use Defendant's cards and Plaintiff's verifiers in the same game. Plaintiff did not secure the Defendant's permission prior to taking the above-noted actions. Plaintiff filed this action for declaratory judgment on September 27, 1994. Plaintiff seeks partial summary judgment on the issue of copyrightability. Plaintiff contends that while the bingo cards of Defendant may warrant copyright protection, the numbers on the cards, independent of the manner in which they were generated or presented, do not.