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A work that is “substantially similar” to a copyrighted work infringes that work, under US law, no matter how it was produced. (Note: Some exceptions apply and
by bdowling 2y ago
A work that is “substantially similar” to a copyrighted work infringes that work, under US law, no matter how it was produced. (Note: Some exceptions apply and you have to read a lot of cases to get an idea of what courts find “substantially similar” .)
- HWR_14 2y ago> no matter how it was produced IIRC, this is wrong. Independent creation is a valid (but almost impossible to prove) defense in US copyright law. This example is not an independent creation, but your reasoning seems wrong.
- bdowling 2y agoI wrote "some exceptions apply" to try to avoid getting into the weeds, but yes, independent creation is an exception. Other exceptions include out-of-term works, public domain, Mise-en-scène (e.g., stock characters), fair use (a huge can of worms), etc.