Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Facts

P is an artist whose fame derives in part from cartoons and illustrations he has drawn for The New Yorker magazine. D is in the business of producing, promoting, and distributing motion pictures, including 'Moscow on the Hudson.' P alleges that Ds' promotional poster for 'Moscow' infringes his copyright on an illustration that he drew for The New Yorker and that appeared on the cover. On March 29, 1976, The New Yorker published as a cover illustration the work at issue in this suit, widely known as a parochial New Yorker's view of the world. The magazine registered this illustration with the United States Copyright Office and subsequently assigned the copyright to P. Approximately three months later, P and The New Yorker entered into an agreement to print and sell a certain number of posters of the cover illustration. P has conceded that numerous posters have been created and published depicting other localities in the same manner that he depicted New York in his illustration. These facts, however, are irrelevant to the merits of this case. Ds' illustration was created to advertise the movie 'Moscow on the Hudson.' D's executive art director, Kevin Nolan, has admitted that he specifically referred to P's poster, and indeed, that he purchased it and hung it, among others, in his office. Nolan explicitly directed the outside artist whom he retained to execute his design, Craig Nelson, to use P's poster to achieve a more recognizably New York look. P's illustration presents a bird's eye view across a portion of the western edge of Manhattan, past the Hudson River and a telescoped version of the rest of the United States and the Pacific Ocean, to a red strip of the horizon, beneath which are three flat land masses labeled China, Japan, and Russia. The name of the magazine, in The New Yorker's usual typeface, occupies the top fifth of the poster, beneath a thin band of blue wash representing a stylized sky. The entire United States west of the Hudson River is reduced to a brown strip labeled 'Jersey,' together with a light green trapezoid with a few rudimentary rock outcroppings and the names of only seven cities and two states scattered across it. The few blocks of Manhattan, by contrast, are depicted and colored in detail. The four square blocks of the city, which occupy the whole lower half of the poster, include numerous buildings, pedestrians, and cars, as well as parking lots and lamp posts, with water towers atop a few of the buildings. The whimsical, sketchy style and spiky lettering are recognizable as P's. The 'Moscow' illustration depicts the three main characters of the film on the lower third of their poster, superimposed on a bird's eye view of New York City, and continues eastward across Manhattan and the Atlantic Ocean, past a rudimentary evocation of Europe, to a clump of recognizably Russian-styled buildings on the horizon, labeled 'Moscow.' The movie credits appear over the lower portion of the characters. The central part of the poster depicts approximately four New York city blocks, with fairly detailed buildings, pedestrians and vehicles, a parking lot, and some water towers and lamp posts. D's artist added a few New York landmarks at apparently random places in his illustration to render the locale more easily recognizable. Beyond the blue strip labeled 'The Atlantic Ocean,' Europe is represented by London, Paris, and Rome, each anchored by a single landmark (although the landmark used for Rome is the Leaning Tower of Pisa). The horizon behind Moscow is delineated by a red crayoned strip, above which are the title of the movie and a brief textual introduction to the plot. The poster is crowned by a thin strip of blue wash, apparently a stylization of the sky. This poster is executed in a blend of styles: the three characters, whose likenesses were copied from a photograph, have realistic faces and somewhat sketchy clothing, and the city blocks are drawn in a fairly detailed but sketchy style. The lettering on the drawing is spiky, in block-printed handwritten capital letters substantially identical to P's, while the printed texts at the top and bottom of the poster are in the typeface commonly associated with The New Yorker magazine. Both parties moved for summary judgment. 

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

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