folder - Nimmer on Copyright

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From Nimmer on Copyright a legal treatise by Professor Nimmer:

[3] The Copyrightability of Dress Designs. Statutory copyright protection is largely unavailing for dress designs for several reasons. First, a clothing garment constitutes a ''useful article'' within the statutory definition, in that it is ''an article having an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information.'' Copyright in the design of a useful article may be claimed ''only if, and only to the extent that, such design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article.'' A fabric design is capable of such separate identification and independent existence, but a dress design typically is not. On the other hand, Poe v. Missing Persons holds that a possibly nonfunctional swimsuit intended for display at an art show might be copyrightable as a work of art. The Ninth Circuit remanded the case for trial whether the bathing suit at issue qualified as a useful item of clothing or as a work of art. Later, the Fifth Circuit aligned itself with ''the Nimmer/Poe test.''
Another, and related impediment to statutory copyright for dress designs is found in a doctrine discussed more extensively in a subsequent section, under which copyright for works of utility will protect only against copying for purposes of explanation, but will not prohibit copying for purposes of use. Thus, copyright in a dress design may protect against the duplication of such design on a paper to be used as an instructional sheet for an unauthorized designer, but it will not protect against the embodying of the design in competitive garments.

Federal Court Cases
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Federal Statutes
Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22