Virginia District Court: Digisplint’s 2006 Website Infringed Silver Ring’s Copyright in Its 1994 Catalog

Holding:

On a motion for summary judgment involving four claims of infringement, a Virginia district court ruled that no reasonable jury could return a verdict that defendant Digisplint’s website selling finger splint products did not infringe plaintiff Silver Ring Splint’s copyright relating to its 1994 sales catalog also selling finger splint products. The district court made a side by side comparison of the features of plaintiff’s catalog and defendant’s October 2006 website, and found that the two were substantially similar. Because the respective features of the catalog and website demonstrated numerous instances of verbatim or near-verbatim copying, the court granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiff. However, with respect to defendant’s 2007 website, handbill, and its “Digisplint Canada” Brochure, the district court found that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to the substantial similarity of these works to plaintiff’s catalog and denied plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment as to these three works.

Detailed Summary:

At the time of the filing of the complaint, plaintiff Silver Ring Splint Company and defendant Digisplint, Inc. were both engaged in the design, manufacture, and sale of “fine jewelry quality” finger splints made of gold or sterling silver. These splints are medical devices for the treatment of certain finger and hand problems related to arthritis and other conditions.

Plaintiff’s copyright infringement complaint involved four claims of infringement of its 1994 sales catalog selling finger splint products.  In its motion for summary judgment, plaintiff identified four of defendant’s works that allegedly infringed its copyright in the 1994 catalog: (1) the Digisplint…

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