Sideshow, Inc. Wins DC Characters Copyright Claim in Suit against Former Employee.
Photograph: Courtesy of Sideshow, Inc.
“Congrats to our lawyers Jordan Susman and Margo Arnold for securing a summary judgment win for our client Sideshow, Inc.” - Nolan Heimann
Source: Margo Arnold, Associate, Nolan Heimann LLP
“In O’Neal v Sideshow, O’Neal sued his former employer, Sideshow, a renowned specialty manufacturer of movie, film, television and collectible action figures, statues, and high-end pieces, for copyright infringement after Sideshow published some of O’Neal’s sketches of DC characters in a coffee table book. O’Neal claimed that he owned the copyright in the sketches because they were sufficiently original to obtain copyright protection. Sideshow moved to dismiss on the basis that O’Neal could not own a copyright in the derivative works and that allowing him to assert a claim would interfere with DC’s copyrights.
Judge Slaughter of the Central District of California federal court granted Sideshow’s motion for summary judgment, holding that O’Neal lacked a valid copyright in his sketches, and thus could not prevail on his copyright claim, under the Durham test created by the 2d Circuit. Further, Judge Slaughter held that “recognizing Plaintiff’s derivative copyright in his sketches of those [DC] characters would effectively give him a pseudo-monopoly over sketches of these [DC] characters.”