Opinion ID: 2677209
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Instant Plans

Text: After considering these principles and reviewing the designs in question, we conclude that even if Defendants copied Zalewski’s plans, they copied only the unprotected elements of his designs. Plaintiff’s principal argument is that Defendants’ designs are so close to his that Defendants must have infringed. He is correct that the designs are, in many respects, quite close, but this is not enough. It proves at most copying, not wrongful copying. architects to accurately represent a construction site. We note that this only applies to existing topography, however, because existing topography is an uncopyrightable fact. An architect may be able to copyright his original proposals for alterations to the topography. On the other hand, such alterations may be dictated by good engineering practice or a customer requirement, in which case they may not be copyrightable. We leave exploration of these issues to future cases. 22 First, many of the similarities are a function of consumer expectations and standard house design generally. Plaintiff can get no credit for putting a closet in every bedroom, a fireplace in the middle of an exterior wall, and kitchen counters against the kitchen walls. Furthermore, the overall footprint of the house and the size of the rooms are “design parameters” dictated by consumer preferences and the lot the house will occupy, not the architect. See Gaito, 602 F.3d at 68. Finally, most of the similarities between Plaintiff’s and Defendants’ designs are features of all colonial homes, or houses generally. So long as Plaintiff was seeking to design a colonial house, he was bound to certain conventions. He cannot claim copyright in those conventions. Great artists often express themselves through the vocabulary of existing forms. Shakespeare wrote his Sonnets; Brahms composed his Hungarian Dances; and Plaintiff designed his colonial houses. Because we must preserve these forms for future artists, neither iambic pentameter, nor European folk motifs, nor clapboard siding are copyrightable. 19 The functional aspects of a work are governed by patent law, not copyright law. See Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99, 104 (1879). 23 Plaintiff makes no attempt to distinguish those aspects of his designs that were original to him from those dictated by the form in which he worked. For example, Zalewski claims that the “front porches are the same design, size, and in the same location.” Reply Br. 6. But a door centered on the front of the house is typical of many homes, and colonials in particular.20 Moreover, there are subtle differences in the paneling, size, and framing of Plaintiff’s and Defendants’ doors. These differences are not great, but given the constraints of a colonial design, they are significant. The same is true of the windows and garage doors that Plaintiff claims are identical. They are quite similar in location, size, and general design, but again, the similarities are due primarily to the shared colonial archetype. The window panes, shutters, and garage‐door paneling all have subtle differences. Likewise, the designs’ shared footprint and general layout are in keeping with the colonial style. There are only so many ways to arrange four 20 Defendants have helpfully included in the record excerpts from several treatises, which describe the basics of colonial architecture. See, e.g., Virginia McAlester & Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (1984); Henry Lionel Williams & Ottalie K. Williams, Old American Houses 1700 to 1850: How to Restore, Remodel, and Reproduce Them (1957). The features of prominent architectural styles, particularly of home designs, are matters with which we are familiar and of which we can take judicial notice. Fed. R. Ev. 201. Although Plaintiff insists that his houses are not in the colonial style, he offers no argument or evidence on this point, merely assertion. We find these assertions incredible. See Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380 (2007). 24 bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen, dining room, living room, and study downstairs. Beyond these similarities, Plaintiff’s and Defendants’ layouts are different in many ways. The exact placement and sizes of doors, closets, and countertops often differ as do the arrangements of rooms. Although he undoubtedly spent many hours on his designs, and although there is certainly something of Plaintiff’s own expression in his work, as long as Plaintiff adhered to a pre‐existing style his original contribution was slight – his copyright very thin. Only very close copying would have taken whatever actually belonged to Plaintiff. See Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. v. Comline Bus. Data, Inc., 166 F.3d 65, 71 (2d Cir. 1999). Copying that is not so close would – and in this case did – only capture the generalities of the style in which Plaintiff worked and elements common to all homes. Defendants’ houses shared Plaintiff’s general style, but took nothing from his original expression. B. Plaintiff’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act Claim In addition to his copyright infringement claim discussed above, Plaintiff appears to bring several other claims, the nature of which is not clear. The DMCA prohibits, among other things, “intentionally remov[ing] or alter[ing] any copyright management information,” such as the familiar © copyright notice. 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b). In places, Plaintiff obliquely suggests that Defendants 25 “removed” the copyright notices from his work, apparently by making photocopies of his drawings and omitting the copyright notices in the process. Regardless of whether we construe this vague assertion as a DMCA claim or a copyright infringement claim, it was properly dismissed on summary judgment because it had no support in the record and was never adequately alleged, despite the district court offering Plaintiff an opportunity to amend his complaint to clearly allege photocopying and removal of copyright management information from supposedly photocopied works. Since Plaintiff failed to plead his DMCA claims or provide any evidentiary support for them, contradicts portions of the DMCA claims in his brief, and passed up an opportunity to clarify his complaint, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of those claims on summary judgment. C. Attorney’s Fees Finally, Plaintiff appeals the district court’s award of attorney’s fees to T.P. and DeRaven under § 505 of the Copyright Act. We review an award of attorney’s fees for reasonableness “in terms of the circumstances of the particular case, and the district court’s determination will be reversed on appeal only for an abuse of discretion.” Matthew Bender & Co., v. West Publ’g. Co., 240 F.3d 116, 121 (2d Cir. 2001) (quoting Alderman v. Pan Am World Airways, 169 F.3d 99, 102 (2d 26 Cir. 1999)). “[T]his Court may reverse an award of attorney[’s] fees if the district court applied the wrong legal standard . . . , or [made] a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The Copyright Act provides courts with the discretion to award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing party. See 17 U.S.C. § 505. Although “[t]here is no precise rule or formula” that district courts must apply in determining whether to award attorney’s fees, the Supreme Court has suggested a list of non‐exclusive factors that courts may consider: “frivolousness, motivation, objective unreasonableness (both in the factual and in the legal components of the case) and the need in particular circumstances to advance considerations of compensation and deterrence.” Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., 510 U.S. 517, 534 & n.19 (1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). Of these factors, “objective reasonableness . . . should be given substantial weight in determining whether an award of attorney[’s] fees is warranted” because “the imposition of a fee award against a copyright holder with an objectively reasonable litigation position will generally not promote the purposes of the Copyright Act.” Matthew Bender, 240 F.3d at 122. The district court concluded that, while Zalewski’s Third Amended Complaint was objectively reasonable, his first three complaints were objectively 27 unreasonable because they “were strewn with legal conclusions and lacked sufficient factual bases to survive [D]efendants’ motions to dismiss,” and they had improperly named dozens of defendants who “bore no culpability,” which “ultimately complicated the litigation.” While the district court may have been correct that the initial complaints and Zalewski’s decision to name nearly ninety defendants, including the current owners of the allegedly infringing homes, were ill‐advised, these deficiencies do not make the bringing of this action “objectively unreasonable.” Indeed, the district court’s finding that Zalewski’s Third Amended Complaint was objectively reasonable — that is, had a reasonable basis in law and fact — seems logically inconsistent with finding that the prior complaints, which set out the same basic claims, were objectively unreasonable. Moreover, the sanction imposed here—an award of attorney’s fees to T.P. and DeRaven, defendants against whom the district court found Zalewski’s claims to be reasonable—is poorly matched to the deficiencies identified by the district court. To the extent that the district court relied on a finding of objective unreasonableness, such a finding on the facts of this case is not “faithful to the purposes of the Copyright Act.” Fogerty, 510 U.S. at 534 n.19. However, it appears that Zalewski’s initial conduct might warrant an award of attorney’s fees under the Copyright Act based on other factors. See, e.g., 28 Matthew Bender, 240 F.3d at 126 (“Misconduct before or during litigation can, in appropriate cases, provide the basis for an award of fees.”). The district court may also be able to explain why in its view the first three complaints were so obtuse, abusive, and otherwise different from the Third Amended Complaint that its award is justified. Therefore, we vacate the district court’s award of attorney’s fees to T.P. and DeRaven and remand for reconsideration of whether an award of attorney’s fees is appropriate in light of this order.