Gay Toys, Inc., Plaintiff-appellee, v. Buddy L Corporation, Defendant-appellant, 703 F.2d 970 (6th Cir. 1983)
Richard D. Grauer, Cullen, Sloman, Cantor, Grauer, Scott & Rutherford, Detroit, Mich., John M. Calimafde (argued), new york, for defendant-appellant.
Robert G. Mentag (argued), Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff-appellee.
Ronald Goldman, Chief Patent Counsel Asst. Secretary and Atty. for Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, Cal., amicus curiae menchats.
Before ENGEL and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and BROWN, Senior Circuit Judge.
BAILEY BROWN, Senior Circuit Judge.
The problem raised in this appeal is whether toys are copyrightable matter that is subject the 1976 Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 101-810. The region court held that toys aren’t copyrightable as they are “useful articles” as defined under Sec. 101 regarding the statute. 522 F. Supp. 622 (E.D. Mich. 1981).

The appellant, Buddy L Corporation, is just a model maker based in new york. It designed a new doll airplane, the “Air Coupe,” which apparently was initially provided on the market to your public in April 1978. Id. at 623.
The appellee, Gay Toys, Inc., is a model maker positioned in Southeastern Michigan. Gay Toys also designed a new doll airplane. Based on Gay Toys, its Product developing Committee came across in belated 1979 to talk about tips for having a toy airplane that is new. During its deliberations, the committee had before it examples of different doll airplanes currently in the marketplace, including Buddy L’s Air Coupe, along with catalogs of genuine and model airplanes. The committee made a decision to direct a designer to develop, within particular specified limitations, a brand new model airplane. No two-dimensional technical drawings had been made very first; instead, the designer created a timber model from scratch. Nevertheless, the designer had certainly one of Buddy L’s Air Coupes in the front of him he occasionally referred to it as he worked on the wood model, and. The effect was Gay Toys’ “Flying Eagle we.”
Right after Gay Toys place its Flying Eagle we in the marketplace, Buddy L notified Gay Toys that it absolutely was infringing on Buddy L’s copyright within the Air Coupe. (more…)