HILLER, LLC v. SUCCESS GROUP INTERNATIONAL LEARNING ALLIANCE, LLC, et al., CLOCKWORK IP, LLC - Articles

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HILLER, LLC v. SUCCESS GROUP INTERNATIONAL LEARNING ALLIANCE, LLC, et al., CLOCKWORK IP, LLC

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 23, 2020

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Brad R. Newberg, MCGUIRE WOODS LLP, Tysons, Virginia, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: Jeffrey J. Catalano, FREEBORN & PETERS LLP, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellee.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: Brad R. Newberg, MCGUIRE WOODS LLP, Tysons, Virginia, Lucy Jewett Wheatley, Brian D. Schmalzbach, MCGUIRE WOODS LLP, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: Jeffrey J. Catalano, FREEBORN & PETERS LLP, Chicago, Illinois, Jason P. Stearns, FREEBORN & PETERS LLP, Tampa, Florida, for Appellee.

Judge(s): SUHRHEINRICH, GIBBONS, and BUSH, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee at Nashville

SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge. Appellant Clockwork IP, LLC intervened in this copyright case to claim that it—not the plaintiff and registered copyright holder Hiller, LLC—owned the allegedly-infringed work, a customer-service training guide for HVAC technicians (the Guide). The jury rejected Clockwork’s sole request for relief: a declaration invalidating Hiller’s copyright in the Guide.

Clockwork makes two arguments on appeal. First, Clockwork contends that the district court erred by denying its motion for judgment as a matter of law because no reasonable juror could have found that Hiller owns a copyright in any part of the Guide. Second, Clockwork asserts that the district court improperly instructed the jury that Hiller could hold a copyright in the Guide, even though it contained Clockwork-copyrighted material, so long as that material did not “pervade[] the entire work.”

Clockwork is wrong on both points. The jury reasonably concluded that Hiller created enough original material to gain copyright protection, and the district judge correctly instructed the jury that the Guide’s incorporation of some Clockwork-copyrighted content did not invalidate Hiller’s copyright in the Guide’s original parts. We affirm.

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