Cavalier v. Random House, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
297 F.3d 815 (9th Cir. 2002)
The Cavaliers (plaintiffs) created children's stories about a character named Nicky Moonbeam, including illustrations of a star lounging on a cloud, a star being polished, and a board book with a built-in night-light depicting a smiling moon surrounded by stars with a power switch to the lower right; after submitting these works to Random House (defendant), which rejected them, Random House later published "Good Night" books featuring similar illustrations, including a night-light with a smiling moon or star with rosy cheeks, surrounded by stars, with a power switch in the same lower-right position. The Cavaliers sued for copyright infringement, and the district court granted the defendants summary judgment on all claims, prompting the Cavaliers' appeal.
Whether summary judgment is appropriate on a copyright infringement claim comparing children's book illustrations, when some individual illustrated elements share close similarities even though the overall plots and characters differ substantially.