Opinion ID: 2959785
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: A brief history of troll dolls. This case involves the copyright to troll dolls, “those ugly but somehow endearing” plastic dolls with oversized heads, big grins, pot bellies, and frizzy hair. See EFS Marketing, Inc. v. Russ Berrie & Co., 76 F.3d 487, 489 (2d Cir. 1996). The troll doll was first created in the late 1950s by a Danish woodcarver, Thomas Dam. Dam called his doll a “Good Luck Troll.” By 1961, Dam was selling his troll dolls in the United States. In 1962, Dam founded a cleverly named Danish company, Dam Things Establishment, through which he marketed his dolls. In 1965, Dam Things Establishment obtained a U.S. copyright for the troll doll. -2- The copyright registration listed Dam Things Establishment as the author of the dolls and 1961 as the year of first publication. That same year, however, the copyright was invalidated because some dolls had been sold in the United States without the proper copyright notice, and the dolls thereby entered the public domain. See Scandia House Enterprises, Inc. v. Dam Things Establishment, 243 F. Supp. 450, 454 (D.D.C. 1965). The Good Luck Troll is still protected by copyright in Denmark. After the troll dolls entered the public domain, numerous companies began marketing the dolls in the United States. See EFS Marketing, 76 F.3d at 489. The market for troll dolls was somewhat cyclical, as the dolls’ popularity surged every decade or so. The most recent surge in popularity occurred in the early 1990s. See id. Thomas Dam died in 1989. Following Dam’s death, his heirs granted Troll Co., a Danish company, the exclusive right to exploit and license the troll dolls. The restoration of the Good Luck Trolls copyright. Congress enacted the URAA on December 8, 1994. Among other things, the URAA amended1 section 104A of the Copyright Act to bring the United States into compliance with the Berne Convention,2 which it had joined in 1 Congress had enacted section 104A one year earlier to comply with the North American Free Trade Agreement. See Dam Things from Denmark v. Russ Berrie & Co., 290 F.3d 548, 554 (3d Cir. 2002). The URAA supplanted that previous version of section 104A. See id. 2 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic -3- 1989. See Dam Things from Denmark v. Russ Berrie & Co., 290 F.3d 548, 554 (3d Cir. 2002). Section 104A restores copyrights for a wide range of foreign works that had previously entered the public domain in the United States because of noncompliance with certain formalities, primarily notice of copyright, imposed by United States copyright law. See 17 U.S.C. § 104A(h)(6); see also Dam Things from Denmark, 290 F.3d at 554-55. The parties do not dispute that the Good Luck Troll copyright was automatically restored pursuant to the URAA on January 1, 1996. Upon learning of the restoration, Troll Co. applied for, and was granted, a registration certificate in 2000. The registration lists Thomas Dam as the author and Troll Co. as the owner of the copyright, and it states 1957 as the date of first publication. After receiving the registration, Troll Co. began enforcing its restored copyright. Uneeda’s manufacture and marketing of Wish-nik dolls. In 1963 or 1964, Dam Things Establishment licensed Uneeda Doll Co., Inc. (“UDCI”), Uneeda’s predecessor, to produce and distribute a line of troll dolls under the name “Wish-niks.” The record shows that UDCI sold Wish-niks periodically between 1965 and 1984. According to UDCI’s chairman, however, UDCI also sold Wish-niks “at least through 1994 and probably up to 1996.” In 1996, UDCI sold all of its assets, including its copyrights, other intellectual property rights, and goodwill, to Uneeda. Works, Sept. 9, 1886 (Paris Text 1971), S. Treaty Doc. No. 99-27 (“Berne Convention”). -4- In 2001 and 2004, Troll Co.’s president met Wilson Lee, a manager of Uneeda’s Hong Kong affiliate, at a toy fair in Germany. On both occasions, Lee allegedly informed him that Uneeda was no longer manufacturing or selling troll dolls and had no intention of doing so in the future. Notwithstanding these discussions, just as Troll Co. was planning a major relaunch of its troll dolls, it learned in August 2005 that Uneeda was selling newly produced Wish-niks to Walmart. The Wish-niks contained copyright notices in Uneeda’s name. Walmart withdrew the dolls after Troll Co. informed it that the dolls infringed its copyright. The District Court proceeding. Troll Co. commenced this copyright infringement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 7, 2005.3 Troll Co. served Uneeda with written notice of its intent to enforce the copyright (a procedure sometimes required under section 104A, as discussed below) on October 18, 2005. After a hearing, the District Judge granted Troll Co.’s motion for a preliminary injunction in an order entered November 28, 2005. See Troll Co. v. Uneeda Doll Co., 400 F. Supp. 2d 601 (S.D.N.Y. 2005). Finding “direct evidence of actual copying,” the District Judge concluded that Uneeda’s sales of Wish-niks threatened irreparable harm to Troll Co. See id. at 603. He also concluded that 3 Several days earlier, Uneeda had filed a declaratory judgment action against Troll Co. and its licensee in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:05-cv-07185. That action was later transferred to the Southern District of New York. -5- Troll Co. was likely to succeed on the merits of its copyright infringement claim, rejecting Uneeda’s claim to protection as a “reliance party” under the URAA. See id. at 603-04. Accordingly, he preliminarily enjoined Uneeda from manufacturing, distributing, or selling Wish-nik dolls pending resolution of the case. See id. at 604.