Copyright case: Pyrotechnics Management, Inc. v. XFX Pyrotechnics LLC, USA

The digital codes were created for functional purposes and were put together under purely mechanical rules.

The digital codes sent by a pyrotechnics control system were not entitled to protection under the Copyright Act because they were no more than “an inevitable system dictated by the logic” of the setup, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has held. The court, reversing a preliminary injunction in favor of the fireworks company and remanding with orders to dismiss the case, held that the digital codes were neither expressive nor original (Pyrotechnics Management, Inc. v. XFX Pyrotechnics LLC, June 29, 2022, Fisher, R).

Case date: 29 June 2022

Case number: No. 21-1695

Court: United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.