Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
Abstract
In Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court had an opportunity to clarify copyright law’s treatment of product designs that incorporate functionality. Its opinion failed to do so in a host of different ways. In this comment (as part of the symposium From Shovels to Jerseys: A Guide to Apply Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands), we address just one of the opinion’s shortcomings: its failure to adequately define and distinguish between a design’s functional and expressive features. Not only does the Court’s neglect produce uncertainty for creators, litigants, and judges, the opinion makes it substantially easier for copyright claimants to obtain protection for utilitarian aspects of designs, contrary to copyright statute and policy.
Citation
Christopher Buccafusco & Jeanne C. Fromer, Forgetting Functionality, 166 University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online 119-126 (2017)
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Copyright, Judicial process, Law--Interpretation and construction
Included in
Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scholarship/4158