Court Opinion

ID: 9495683
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:08:27.923359+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:09.271503
License: Public Domain

RILEY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the well-reasoned opinion of the Court. The scope of appellate review of a preliminary injunction decision is narrow. See Dataphase Sys., 640 F.2d at 114 n. 8; Frejlach v. Butler, 573 F.2d 1026, 1027 (8th Cir.1978). Under the appropriate standard of review, the district court’s findings of substantial similarity are not clearly erroneous. The majority opinion recognizes “if the proof at the trial on the merits should be different, the case could go the other way on final judgment.” Because I believe the final fact finder could *1044reach a different result on the proof already presented at the preliminary injunction hearing, I separately concur.
For example, the district court found the Taylor “Pencil Sketch Farm” card copyright was probably infringed by the Four Seasons card depicting a winter country scene. Each card shows a rural winter scene with snow, trees and a well in the right foreground. The Taylor card portrays a farmyard with a barn, silo, shed, wood pile and fencing separated from a farmhouse. The Four Seasons card does not represent a farmyard, but has a house, of distinctively different architectural design, sitting near a lake, without any barn, silo, shed, wood pile or fencing. The Taylor card has two male cardinals in the foreground by the well. The Four Seasons card has no wildlife and has a tree in the left foreground of the card partially blocking the view of the house.
As another example, the district court found the Taylor “Thanksgiving Cart” card copyright was probably infringed by the Four Seasons “Pumpkin Wagon” card. The Taylor Thanksgiving card exhibits a three-wheel push cart full of squash, gourds and grapes, with pumpkins, apples and other produce on the ground beside the cart. The Four Seasons card pictures a four-wheel pull wagon full of pumpkins with baskets of apples and grapes on the ground nearby and apparently no gourds, squash or other produce.
A fresh look at the evidence already presented could result in a final judgment going the other way. Therefore, I separately concur.