Opinion ID: 608143
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Access to the Copyrighted Work

Text: 50 Addressing the access prong, the district judge noted that the founders of NESS, Neil and Manning, were thoroughly familiar with the Autoskill Program. 793 F.Supp. at 1559 (finding No. 14). Neil, the judge found, had sold ICON computers for UNISYS with Autoskill software for four years. Id. Further, the court found that the supervisor of the programming of the NESS program had reviewed a document which describes the Autoskill Program in detail. Id. (finding No. 22). The judge concluded there is no question that NESS had access to the Autoskill Program. Id. 51 On access, a plaintiff may meet his initial burden by showing that the defendant had a reasonable opportunity to view or opportunity to copy the allegedly infringed work. 3 Nimmer § 13.02[A] & n. 5, at 13-15 to -16; see also, e.g., Robert R. Jones Assocs., Inc. v. Nino Homes, 858 F.2d 274, 277 (6th Cir.1988) (concluding [a]ccess merely means an opportunity to view the protected material). We agree that defining access as the opportunity to view or copy makes sense for the purposes of shifting the burden to the defendant, and we follow this approach. See 3 Nimmer § 13.02[A] n. 5, at 13-15. NESS makes no argument that the judge's underlying factual findings on this point are clearly erroneous and those findings establish opportunity. 52