Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc.

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Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc.

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Conference of June 27, 2019

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
15-866	6th Cir.	Oct 31, 2016 Tr.Aud.	Mar 22, 2017	6-2	Thomas	OT 2016

Holding: A feature incorporated into the design of a useful article is eligible for copyright protection under the Copyright Act of 1976 only if the feature (1) can be perceived as a two- or three-dimensional work of art separate from the useful article, and (2) would qualify as a protectable pictorial, graphic or sculptural work -- either on its own or fixed in some other tangible medium of expression -- if it were imagined separately from the useful article into which it is incorporated; that test is satisfied here.

Judgment: Affirmed, 6-2, in an opinion by Justice Thomas on March 22, 2017. Justice Ginsburg filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Kennedy joined.

Opinion analysis: Court uses cheerleader uniform case to validate broad copyright in industrial designs (Ronald Mann)
Argument analysis: Justices worry about "killing knockoffs with copyright" (Ronald Mann)
A "view" from the courtroom: Dress for success (Mark Walsh)
Argument preview: Court to consider copyright protection for cheerleading uniforms (Ronald Mann)
Useful or creative: A look at design protection (Lyle Denniston)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Jan 5 2016	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 8, 2016)
Jan 21 2016	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including March 4, 2016.
Feb 5 2016	Brief amici curiae of Public Knowledge, et al. filed.
Feb 8 2016	Brief amici curiae of FormLabs Inc., et al. filed.
Mar 4 2016	Brief of respondents Varsity Brands, Inc., et al. in opposition filed.
Mar 23 2016	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 15, 2016.
Mar 23 2016	Reply of petitioner Star Athletica, L.L.C. filed. (Distributed)
Apr 18 2016	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 22, 2016.
Apr 25 2016	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 29, 2016.
May 2 2016	Petition GRANTED limited to Question 1 presented by the petition.
May 10 2016	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs, in support of either party or of neither party, received from counsel for the petitioner.
May 17 2016	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs, in support of either party or of neither party, received from counsel for respondents.
May 26 2016	The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including July 15, 2016.
May 26 2016	The time to file respondents' brief on the merits is extended to and including September 14, 2016.
May 26 2016	Brief amicus curiae of Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc. filed.
Jul 15 2016	Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
Jul 15 2016	Brief of petitioner Star Athletica, L.L.C. filed.
Jul 21 2016	Brief amici curiae of Public Knowledge, et al. filed.
Jul 22 2016	Brief amici curiae of Professors Christopher Buccafusco and Jeanne Fromer filed.
Jul 22 2016	Brief amici curiae of Intellectual Property Professors filed.
Jul 22 2016	Brief amicus curiae of American Intellectual Property Law Association in support of neither party filed.
Jul 22 2016	Brief amicus curiae of New York Intellectual Property Law Association in support of neither party filed.
Jul 22 2016	Brief amicus curiae of Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago in support of neither party filed.
Sep 2 2016	SET FOR ARGUMENT On Monday, October 31, 2016
Sep 9 2016	Record has been requested from the U.S.C.A. 6th Circuit.
Sep 14 2016	Brief of respondents Varsity Brands, Inc., et al. filed.
Sep 15 2016	Record received from the U.S.D.C. Eastern District of Michigan ( 2 Boxes ).
Sep 19 2016	Brief amicus curiae of Intellectual Property Owners Association filed.
Sep 21 2016	Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
Sep 21 2016	Motion of the Acting Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
Sep 21 2016	Brief amici curiae of Professors Jeannie Suk Gersen and C. Scott Hemphill filed.
Sep 21 2016	Brief amici curiae of Fashion Law Institute, et al. filed.
Sep 21 2016	Brief amicus curiae of Chosun International, Inc. filed.
Sep 21 2016	Brief amicus curiae of Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. filed.
Sep 28 2016	CIRCULATED
Oct 11 2016	Motion of the Acting Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.
Oct 14 2016	Reply of petitioner Star Athletica, L.L.C. filed. (Distributed)
Oct 31 2016	Argued. For petitioner: John J. Bursch, Caledonia, Mich. For respondents: William M. Jay, Washington, D. C.; and Eric J. Feigin, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.)
Mar 22 2017	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Alito, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Ginsburg, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Breyer, J., filed a dissenting opinion in which Kennedy, J., joined.
Apr 24 2017	JUDGMENT ISSUED.

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This Week at the Court
On Monday, the Supreme Court released orders from the June 20 conference; the justices granted eight new cases, for a total of five hours of oral argument next term: Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr, Ovalles v. Barr, Dex Media Inc. v. Click-To-Call Technologies, LP, Maine Community Health Options v. United States, Moda Health Plan Inc. v. United States, Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Co. v. United States, Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc. and Banister v. Davis.
Also on Monday, the justices released their opinions in four argued cases: United States v. Davis, Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, Iancu v. Brunetti and The Dutra Group v. Batterton.
On Wednesday, the justices released their opinions in three argued cases: United States v. Haymond, Kisor v. Wilkie, and Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court will release its final opinions for the term.
Major Cases
- Department of Commerce v. New York
  (1) Whether the district court erred in enjoining the secretary of the Department of Commerce from reinstating a question about citizenship to the 2020 decennial census on the ground that the secretary’s decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 701 et seq; (2) whether, in an action seeking to set aside agency action under the APA, a district court may order discovery outside the administrative record to probe the mental processes of the agency decisionmaker -- including by compelling the testimony of high-ranking executive branch officials -- without a strong showing that the decisionmaker disbelieved the objective reasons in the administrative record, irreversibly prejudged the issue, or acted on a legally forbidden basis; and (3) whether the secretary’s decision to add a citizenship question to the decennial census violated the enumeration clause of the U.S. Constitution.
- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
  Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co – under which deference is given to an agency’s reasonable reading of its own genuinely ambiguous regulations – are not overruled.
- Rucho v. Common Cause
  (1) Whether plaintiffs have standing to press their partisan gerrymandering claims; (2) whether plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable; and (3) whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is, in fact, an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  The Bladensburg Cross does not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  The dual-sovereignty doctrine – under which two offenses are not the “same offence” for double jeopardy purposes if prosecuted by separate sovereigns – is upheld.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Kisor v. Wilkie Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co – under which deference is given to an agency’s reasonable reading of its own genuinely ambiguous regulations – are not overruled.
- Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas Tennessee’s 2-year durational-residency requirement applicable to retail liquor store license applicants violates the commerce clause and is not saved by the 21st Amendment.
- United States v. Haymond The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit’s judgment – that 18 U. S. C. §3583(k)’s last two sentences are unconstitutional and unenforceable – is vacated, and the case is remanded.
- Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media Where commercial or financial information is both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner and provided to the government under an assurance of privacy, the information is “confidential” within the meaning of 5 U. S. C. §552(b)(4), the Freedom of Information Act’s Exemption 4.
- Iancu v. Brunetti The Lanham Act prohibition on the registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” trademarks infringes the First Amendment.
- The Dutra Group v. Batterton A plaintiff may not recover punitive damages on a maritime claim of unseaworthiness.
- United States v. Davis Title 18 U. S. C. §924(c)(3)(B), which provides enhanced penalties for using a firearm during a “crime of violence,” is unconstitutionally vague.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Atlanta Gas Light Co. v. Bennett Regulator Guards Inc. (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit erred in concluding that it had jurisdiction to review the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to institute inter partes review of respondent’s patent over respondent’s objection that it was time-barred; and (2) whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit erred when it rejected the longstanding principle that a dismissal without prejudice leaves the parties as if a suit had never been brought, splitting the circuits.
- Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California (1) Whether the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy is judicially reviewable; and (2) whether DHS’s decision to wind down the DACA policy is lawful.
- Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue Whether it violates the religion clauses or the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution to invalidate a generally available and religiously neutral student-aid program simply because the program affords students the choice of attending religious schools.
More Petitions »
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Cases decided 66

Summary reversals 5

Merits cases granted to date 74

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On June 3, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke with David Rubenstein for the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual lecture at the Supreme Court.

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Cases argued	69
Cases decided	66
Summary reversals	5
Merits cases granted to date	74

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