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10-1738 Nova Design Build, Inc., v. Grace Hotels, LLC

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 27, 2011//

10-1738 Nova Design Build, Inc., v. Grace Hotels, LLC

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 27, 2011//

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Intellectual Property
Copyrights; originality

A hotel floor plan is not sufficiently original to be protectable.

“We think that Nova fails at the initial step: it has not identified anything in these particular designs that was original and thus protectable. Nova’s designs were, for the most part, based on the Holiday Inn Express prototype. Nova does not assert that it has the right, either through contract or otherwise, to enforce Holiday Inn Express’s copyright in its own plans. Instead, Nova protests that it added features to the prototype, such as an extra floor, a larger meeting area, different closet and door placements in the rooms, and different pool, exercise, and laundry areas, but that is not enough. Though Nova’s designs do possess added features (and these additions are the only elements that may be protectable), they are devoid of originality. Merely adding an extra floor, identical to the floor layout of the prototype, is not original. The other features Nova mentions were specifically requested by Grace, mostly through written requests accompanied by graphic designs. In light of that, there was no creative element to these features in Nova’s designs. See Tiseo Architects, Inc., 495 F.3d at 347 (holding that architectural sketches that incorporated owner’s suggestions and drawings, and were limited by zoning requirements, did not possess requisite originality for copyright protection). The aspects of Nova’s designs that went beyond the Holiday Inn Express prototype were insufficiently original to qualify for copyright protection, and with that Nova’s claim for copyright infringement must fail.”

Affirmed.

10-1738 Nova Design Build, Inc., v. Grace Hotels, LLC

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Der-Yeghiayan, J., Wood, J.

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