COQUICO, INC., Plaintiff, Appellee, v. ANGEL EDGARDO RODRIGUEZ-MIRANDA AND INDENTIKO, INC., Defendants, Appellants., 562 F.3d 62

Summary

The company and its owner insisted that their coqui did not copy any original elements of the plush toy coqui, and thus, that the corporation was unlikely to succeed on its claim of copyright infringement. Copyright protection could subsist in original plush-toy designs, 17 U.S.C.S. § 102(a)(5). The appellate court found that the corporation adduced ample evidence to ground a finding of actual copying because the combination of access to information concerning the design and production of the plush toy coqui and the probative similarity between the two products adequately buttressed the district court's determination that the corporation had shown a likelihood of success on the issue of actual copying. Moreover, the corporation adduced ample evidence to ground a finding of substantial similarity because the stitching, color combination, posture, size, and flag location of the two products were virtually identical. Consequently, the district court did not err or abuse its discretion ...