Seiler v. Lucasfilm, Ltd.

808 F.2d 1316 (9th Cir. 1986)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Sieler (P) a graphic artist alleged a copyright infringement by Lucasfilm (D). P claimed D copied the Imperial Walkers from The Empire Strikes Back from P's own creation called Garthian Striders. The movie appeared in 1980 and P obtained his copyright in 1981. P contends he created the Striders in 1976-1977. P contends the originals were destroyed. P obtained his copyright from reconstructions submitted to the copyright office. During the trial, P wanted to show the jury the reconstructions, but that was objected to by D. An evidentiary hearing was done outside the ears of the jury. That hearing took seven days. The court found that P testified falsely, purposefully destroyed, or withheld in bad faith the originals and fabricated and misrepresented the nature of his reconstructions. After the evidentiary hearing, D obtained a summary judgment. P appealed contending that the best evidence rule does not apply to drawings, that Rule 1008 requires a jury determination of the existence and authenticity of his originals and that 17 U.S.C. Section 410(c) of the copyright law overrides the federal rule of evidence.