Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
663 F. Supp. 706 (1987)
Saul Steinberg (plaintiff) drew a well-known 1976 New Yorker cover depicting a New York-centric view of the world, using distinctive lettering, particular building facades, and a wide central boulevard running to the Hudson River with detail fading into the background. Columbia Pictures' (defendant) art director Kevin Nolan, who admitted keeping a print of Steinberg's cover in his office and had seen it, designed a movie poster for Moscow on the Hudson using the same basic composition -- four foreground city blocks fading into a background of other cities and countries, similar lettering and building facades, and a wide two-way boulevard leading to water -- though with changed street names and added NYC landmarks. Steinberg sued Columbia and others for copyright infringement and moved for summary judgment.
Whether summary judgment for copyright infringement is available when the evidence of similarity is so strong that a directed verdict would be appropriate at trial.