Mazer v. Stein

Stein and his lamp-business partners (plaintiffs) created original human-figure sculptures, cast copies of them, and sold the copies both as fully assembled lamp bases and as standalone statuettes; they registered the sculptures as works of art without any lamp components included in the registration. Mazer and his competing lamp-business partners (defendants) obtained several of the statuettes and copied the design for their own products. The district court dismissed Stein's infringement suit, holding artistic works intended for mass production as utilitarian products were not copyrightable, but the court of appeals reversed.