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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
Edmund Burke


Galiano v Harrah's, 416 F.3d 411 (5th 2005)

Jane Galiano is the founder and owner of Gianna, Inc., which designs clothing and counsels various industries regarding their professional attire. Gianna and Harrah's entered into an agreement pursuant to which Gianna was to design uniforms for employees of various Harrah's casinos.

The design agreement between Gianna and Harrah's expired according to its terms on December 1, 1995. The parties entered into negotiations to extend the contract, but failed to do so and entered into an agreement purporting to settle all disputes in May 1996.1 Harrah's continued to order Gianna-designed costumes from its suppliers.

Gianna (with Galiano individually as co-plaintiff) sued in federal district court alleging that Harrah's had breached the May 1996 settlement agreement and committed copyright infringement by continuing to use and order Gianna-designed uniforms. Harrah's counterclaimed for fraud and misuse of the Copyright Office, asserting that Gianna had failed to disclose that the allegedly copyrighted work was not original and that it intended to cover items that are not properly copyrightable.

The district court granted Harrah's' motion for summary judgment on the infringement claim and denied Gianna's motion for summary judgment on Harrah's' fraud on the Copyright Office counterclaim. After the court issued its judgment, in a separate motion Harrah's requested, and the district court granted, attorney's fees.

The court of appeals affirmed the summary judgment in favor of Harrah's on the infringement claim, dismissed the appeal regarding the denial of summary judgment to Gianna on the counterclaim, and vacated and remanded the order awarding attorney's fees. The court of appeals also concluded that Gianna did not own a valid copyright in the clothing designs.

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