Opinion ID: 722407
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to Perform an Abstraction Under the Altai Abstraction-Filtration-Comparison Test

Text: 18 MiTek asserts that, although the district court purported to apply the abstraction-filtration-comparison test of Computer Assocs. Int'l, Inc. v. Altai, Inc., 982 F.2d 693 (2d Cir.1992), it failed not only to understand the test but also to apply it properly. More specifically, MiTek argues that the district court erred in finding that no abstraction or similar type of analysis was necessary. This finding was based on the district court's determination that since MiTek had identified 18 non-literal elements of its layout programs that it contends are entitled to copyright protection and which Defendant infringed upon, the court would limit its inquiry as to the copyrightability of these 18 elements designated by the Plaintiff. MiTek, 864 F.Supp. at 1579. The district court concluded that it did not need to undertake any abstraction, since MiTek had done this for it. Accordingly, the district court proceeded directly to step two of the Altai test, filtration. 19 MiTek is correct in asserting that the district court did not abstract further the list of eighteen elements that MiTek presented as being expressive and original elements of the three versions of the ACES program. However, the district court did not err in failing to abstract further the features that MiTek presented to it in its Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as being original at the time they were first incorporated into those versions of the ACES Layout Program. R2-104-10. During the bench trial, one of MiTek's experts was questioned about an exhibit that he had prepared, which he stated contained the expressive features in the Aces layout programs Versions 1, 2 and 3 that he deemed to be original. R5-367-68; see also Plaintiff's Exh. 18L, pp. 4-5. This same list was presented to the court by MiTek in its Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. R2-104-10-12. In other words, the district court took at face value MiTek's representations as to what elements of the ACES program MiTek considered to be protectable expression. In accepting MiTek's representations, the district court committed no error. 20 What MiTek apparently fails to appreciate is that the ultimate burden is on the copyright holder to prove infringement. Therefore, if the copyright holder presents the court with a list of features that it believes to be protectable (i.e., original and outside of 17 U.S.C. § 102(b)), the court need not abstract further such features. Perhaps the best approach for a district court in any computer program infringement case, whether involving literal or nonliteral elements, 15 is for it to require the copyright owner to inform the court as to what aspects or elements of its computer program it considers to be protectable. This will serve as the starting point for the court's copyright infringement analysis. While it is not clear that the district court specifically requested this list, or if MiTek offered it to the court, the desired result nonetheless was achieved because MiTek provided the court with such a delineation. After submitting a specification of the elements that it deemed to be protectable, MiTek cannot now argue that the district court failed to abstract further the elements of its own designation of protectable features. The purpose of the abstraction portion of the Altai test is to enable courts to separate protectable expression from unprotected ideas, 16 and, in this case, MiTek presented this analysis to the court. Therefore, there is no merit to MiTek's claim that the district court erred in failing to perform an abstraction under the Altai test or in failing to undertake a similar type of analysis. 21