U.S. Federal District Court clears path for ICC copyright complaint against IAPMO.

[mark handler]

U.S. Federal District Court clears path for ICC copyright complaint against IAPMO.
A Federal Court on Monday cleared the path for ICC Evaluation Service, LLC (ICC-ES) to proceed with its copyright infringement complaint against the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, Inc. (IAPMO) when the court denied IAPMO's motion to have the case dismissed. In a 25-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan struck down IAPMO's arguments to dismiss ICC-ES' Federal copyright claims as "unavailing," noting that side-by-side comparisons of ICC-ES' copyrighted materials with IAPMO's allegedly infringing works that were presented to the Court as evidence along with ICC-ES' complaint, "could permit a reasonable observer to conclude that appropriation occurred."

 

[CodeWarrior]

I read the court's decision. icc claimed the following: (1) copyright infringement, in violation of 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq. (“Copyright Act”); (2) breach of contract; (3) tortious interference with contract; and (4) tortious interference with prospective business relationships. Points 2, 3, and 4 were dismissed, but icc seems to think they won. icc also, as stated in the ruling, has not explained which areas are protected by copyright. Here is the actual quote so one can see how icc parsed the quotation above: "At this juncture, although ICC has offered side-by-side comparisons of certain of its works and
certain of Defendants’ allegedly infringing works that could permit a reasonable observer to conclude that appropriation occurred, see Pl.’s Opp. at 5-9; Gustave-Schmidt, 226 F. Supp. 2d at 196 (a court may consider documents “incorporated by reference in the complaint” when considering a motion to
dismiss), ICC has yet to identify which portions of its works are protectable by copyright."