Opinion ID: 666626
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Test for Determination of Infringement

Text: 17 To establish copyright infringement, two elements must be proven: ownership of a valid copyright, and copying of constituent elements of the work that are original. Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340, 111 S.Ct. 1282, 1296, 113 L.Ed.2d 358 (1991); Bellsouth Advertising & Publishing Corp. v. Donnelley Info. Publishing, Inc., 999 F.2d 1436, 1440 (11th Cir.1993) (en banc). For purposes of its motion for summary judgment, Paramount concedes that Beal holds a valid copyright in The Arab Heart; therefore, only copying is contested. 18 In recognizing that plaintiffs rarely have direct evidence on this issue, courts have developed methods by which copying can be proven indirectly. The approach applied in this Circuit involves a two-part test for indirect proof of copying. The plaintiff is first required to show that the defendant had access to the plaintiff's work; second, the plaintiff must show that the defendant's work is substantially similar to the plaintiff's protected expression. Original Appalachian Artworks, Inc. v. Toy Loft, Inc., 684 F.2d 821, 829 & n. 11 (11th Cir.1982). A court may grant summary judgment for a defendant if the similarity between the works concerns only noncopyrightable elements, or if no reasonable jury upon proper instruction would find that the two works are substantially similar. 4 Warner Bros., Inc. v. American Broadcasting Cos., 720 F.2d 231, 240 (2d Cir.1983). Because the Copyright Act protects original works of authorship, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 102(a), the sine qua non of copyright is originality. Feist Publications, supra, 499 U.S. at 345, 111 S.Ct. at 1287. Material that is not original cannot be copyrighted. In addition to broad ideas, noncopyrightable material includes scenes a faire --stock scenes that naturally flow from a common theme. See, e.g., Walker v. Time Life Films, Inc., 784 F.2d 44, 50 (2d Cir.) (no protection for common elements in police fiction, such as drunks, prostitutes, vermin and derelict cars and foot chases and the morale problems of policemen, not to mention the familiar figure of the Irish cop), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1159, 106 S.Ct. 2278, 90 L.Ed.2d 721 (1986); Evans v. Wallace Berrie & Co., 681 F.Supp. at 817 (Such similarities as using a sand dollar as currency, foods made of seaweed, seahorses for transportation and plates made of oysters or mother of pearl are not protected similarities of expression, but are more accurately characterizations that naturally follow from the common theme of an underwater civilization.).