OddzOn Products, Inc. v. Oman
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
924 F.2d 346 (1991)
OddzOn Products (plaintiff) sought a copyright for the KOOSH ball, a patented and trademarked toy made of floppy strands radiating from a core into a sphere shape, designed to help children learn to catch, in order to deter competitors from selling knockoffs; the Copyright Office (defendant) denied registration, reasoning the ball's visual appearance was merely a sphere lacking sufficient creativity and its distinctive "feel" was a functional aspect of the toy rather than separable artistic expression. The district court upheld the denial on both grounds, and OddzOn appealed.
Whether the Copyright Office abused its discretion in refusing to register a copyright for a useful article's distinctive tactile quality, where that quality is inseparable from the article's utilitarian function.