Home Legend, LLC v. Mannington Mills, Inc.

32 F. Supp. 3d 1273, 2014 WL 3687220, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102743
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJuly 3, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 4:12-CV-0237-HLM
StatusPublished

This text of 32 F. Supp. 3d 1273 (Home Legend, LLC v. Mannington Mills, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Home Legend, LLC v. Mannington Mills, Inc., 32 F. Supp. 3d 1273, 2014 WL 3687220, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102743 (N.D. Ga. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

HAROLD L. MURPHY, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on Plaintiff and Counterclaimant Home Legend, LLC’s (“Home Legend”) Motion for Summary Judgment that the Asserted Copyright Does Not Comprise Copyrightable Subject Matter (“Motion for Summary Judgment”) [110].1

I. Background

A. Factual Background

Keeping in mind that when deciding a motion for summary judgment, the Court must view the evidence and all factual inferences in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, the Court provides the following statement of facts. Optimum Techs., Inc. v. Henkel Consumer Adhesives, Inc., 496 F.3d 1231, 1241 (11th Cir.2007). This statement does not represent actual findings of fact. In re Celotex Corp., 487 F.3d 1320, 1328 (11th Cir.2007). Instead, the Court has provided the statement simply to place the Court’s legal analysis in the context of this particular case or controversy.2

[1276]*12761.Laminate Flooring

Mannington and Home Legend both sell laminated flooring products. (PSMF ¶ 1; Mannington’s Resp. PSMF (“DRPSMF”) (Docket Entry No. 118-7) ¶ 1.) Laminate flooring is made by laminating paper bearing a digital photograph of actual wood onto a substrate. (Id.; id.) The laminated paper and substrate then is coated with hard, wear-resistant coatings to protect the photographic paper from wear during the life of the floor. (Id.; id.) Dan Nat-kin, Mannington’s Director for Wood and Laminate Products, testified as follows concerning the laminate flooring manufacturing process:

There’s four key components to the manufacturing process of laminate floor-, ing. Those four key components are [a] balancing layer on the back of the product; an HDF core board, high-density or medium-density core board that’s comprised of wood fiber, think of it as sawdust and resin that’s pressed together under heat and pressure to create a very solid center layer.
A decorative layer. That decorative layer is a piece of artwork that’s been created to create the final look of the product. And then what we call an overlay that provides the wear-resistance properties of the product.
Those four components are pressed together under heat and pressure to create a panel. That panel is then cut into individual planks. A[n] interlocking system is then cut into those planks and a bevel is applied so that you have your final finished flooring product.

(Dep. of Daniel Alan Natkin (Docket Entry No. 50-11)3 at 40-41; see also Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. (Docket Entry No. 75) at 15-17 (describing process for manufacturing laminate).)

2.The Copyright

Mannington claims that it owns Copyright Registration No. VA-1-747-071, titled “Glazed Maple” (the “Copyright”). (PSMF ¶ 3; DRPSMF ¶3; DSMF ¶ 1; Home Legend’s Resp. DSMF (“PRDSMF”) (Docket Entry No. 130-7) ¶ 1.) The Copyright is for “2-D Artwork.” (Copyright, Docket Entry No. 50-12 at 2; Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 68.) Mannington sells laminate flooring with the Glazed Maple Design under the name “Time Crafted Maple.” (Aff. of Daniel Alan Natkin Dated Nov. 30, 2012 (“Natkin Aff. I”) (Docket Entry No. 9-3) ¶ 6; Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 21.)

3.Mannington’s Laminated Flooring

Mannington manufactures laminated flooring to which it applies actual, natural hardwood designs during the manufacturing process. (PSMF ¶ 4; DRPSMF ¶ 4.) Among Mannington’s designs are several artistic works inspired by and intended to emulate the looks of natural wood floors, (Id.; id.; Natkin Aff. I ¶ 3; Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 108.) According to Mr. Nat-kin, with Mannington’s laminates, it tries “to recreate the looks that you can find in different woods” (Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 110), and Mannington tries “to convince the consumer that [laminate is] the next best thing to wood” (id.).

Mannington owns numerous United States Patents directed to various process[1277]*1277es, including scraping, staining, color separating, and digitally manipulating the scanned images. (PSMF ¶ 17; DRPSMF ¶ 17; Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 27.) According to Mr. Natkin, Mannington does not maintain copyright protection for those processes. (Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 27.)

4. Development of the Glazed Maple Design

Mannington’s creative design team, including Joe Amato, Mannington’s Vice President of Residential Styling, and Mr. Natkin, developed the Glazed Maple design. (DSMF ¶ 2; PRDSMF ¶2.) The development process for the Glazed Maple design 'began by researching home trends and styles, (Id. ¶ 3; id. ¶ 3.)

Mannington began the creation process for the Glazed Maple design by using raw maple wood. (Dep. of Joe Amato (Docket Entry No. 50-8) at 18-19; Prelim. Hr’g Tr. at 39, 44.) Mannington created the Glazed Maple design, in part, by accentuating the natural chatter4 on the raw maple boards by hand to bring it out and make it deeper. (PSMF ¶ 19; DRPSMF ¶ 19; Aff. of Joe Amato (Docket Entry No. 50-1) ¶ 4; Aff. of A1 Boulogne (Docket Entry No. 51) ¶ 6; Amato Dep. at 18-19; Natkin Aff. I ¶ 6; Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 48, 54; Second Aff. of Dan Natkin (“Nat-kin Aff. II”) (Docket Entry No. 50-6) ¶ 3.) Mannington’s representatives applied stain to the boards to make the grain stand out. (PSMF ¶ 20; DRPSMF ¶ 20; Amato Aff. ¶ 5; Boulogne Aff. ¶ 6; Amato Dep. at 18-19; Natkin Aff. I ¶ 6; Natkin Aff. II ¶ 3; Prelim Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 48, 54.) Manning-ton’s representatives then digitally scanned the boards and selected the planks to include in the Glazed Maple design. (PSMF ¶ 21; DRPSMF ¶ 21; Amato Aff. ¶ 5; Amato Dep. at 18-19, 30; Natkin Aff. I ¶ 6; Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 51.) According to Mannington’s representative, after scanning the boards, the character and all the distressing, marks, and staining, stayed the same. (PSMF ¶ 22; DRPSMF ¶22.) Mannington’s representatives created color separations on the design and added some retouching for balance, (Id.; id., Amato Aff. ¶ 5; Boulogne Aff. ¶ 7; Amato Dep. at 20; Natkin Aff. I ¶ 6; Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 49.)

The final Glazed Maple design had “a number of different type[s] of chatter marks on it.” (Natkin Dep. at 80.) According to Mr. Natkin, Mannington added most of the chatter visible on the Glazed Maple design manually, and the only visible natural chatter on the planks came from lathe marks, which typically are not desirable. (Prelim. Inj. Hr’g Tr. at 121; Natkin Aff. II ¶ 5.)

According to Mannington’s representative, Joe Amato, the final Glazed Maple design had some wood grain present, “but for the most part, all of that [grain] was applied by hand in some way or another.” (Amato Dep. at 37-38.) During the design process, Mr. Amato and his assistants attempted to distress the wood to “create character of what a piece of wood would look like possibly if it was in a building overtime.” (Id. at 38.) According to Mr. Amato, the techniques they used were intended “to create a product that looked like it was hand crafted and time worn.” (Id. at 43.)

According to Mr.

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32 F. Supp. 3d 1273, 2014 WL 3687220, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/home-legend-llc-v-mannington-mills-inc-gand-2014.