Opinion ID: 4556094
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Character Similarities

Text: We also agree with the district court's conclusion that the similarities between the characters in the Videogame and those in Discovery are mostly 32 generalized and non-protectible. App'x at 244. Courts in this circuit have routinely denied character infringement claims sharing far more similar characteristics and features. See, e.g., Alexander v. Murdoch, No. 10-cv-5613 (PAC), 2011 WL 2802923, at  (S.D.N.Y. July 14, 2011) (dismissing claim where both characters shared the same sex and hair color, as well as similar mannerisms), aff'd, 502 F. App'x 107 (2d Cir. 2012); Cabell v. Sony Pictures Entm't, Inc., 714 F. Supp. 2d 452, 454 (S.D.N.Y. 2010) (granting summary judgment where characters were both military-trained hairstylists who fight crime with hairdryers as weapons), aff'd, 425 F. App'x 42 (2d Cir. 2011). Here, several of the characters in the works share general and undeveloped similarities. Discovery's Michael Burnham and the Videogame's Yolanda are black females with curly short brown hair. Carter from the Videogame and Discovery's Lieutenant Paul Stamets are both blonde white males who are scientists. Aziz, a space station technician in the Videogame, is a male with dark complexion, black hair, and beard, similar to Discovery's Hugh Culber, a doctor with a dark complexion, black hair, and a beard. Finally, Natasha in the Videogame and the Discovery's Sylvia Tilly are both depicted as young white women with orange or red curly hair. 33 There are also, however, significant differences in these characters. Yolanda is the communications engineer aboard the Videogame space station, while Burnham is the star and protagonist of Discovery, who initially appears as the First Officer aboard the starship Shenzhou. By Episode 3, however, she has been convicted of mutiny and first appears on the Discovery as a prisoner, but she redeems herself and eventually is appointed science officer. Stamets is not just a scientist, but specifically an astromycologist, . . . someone who studies space-based fungi, App'x at 236, and he and Culver are lovers and berthmates aboard the Discovery. Natasha is a major rival in the Distillation, App'x at 75, while Tilly is a cadet who is also Burnham's friend and berthmate aboard the Discovery. While the characters do share some traits such as hair color, race, and profession, the Videogame's many characters have a wide range of physical traits and the suggestion that a copyright infringement claim can be based on such generic and common characteristics is highly illogical. Spock, Star Trek: The Omega Glory, Star Trek: The Original Series (1968). Courts in this circuit have long held that such stock similarities are non-protectible generalized traits that cannot support a plausible character infringement claim. See, e.g., Sheldon Abend 34 Revocable Tr. v. Spielberg, 748 F. Supp. 2d 200, 209 (S.D.N.Y. 2010) (similarities of age, sex, and status are a basic character type not protected under copyright); Hogan v. DC Comics, 48 F. Supp. 2d 298, 310 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) (A stock character or basic character type, however, is not entitled to copyright protection.). We agree with the district court that there is no substantial similarity between the characters because the alleged similarities are generic and undeveloped. See Nichols, 45 F.2d at 121.