Are LEGO Creations Based on Religious Texts Eligible for Copyright Protection?

The creator of a LEGO brick Second Holy Temple product is accusing another LEGO creator of copyright infringement for their interpretation of the same temple. Scott Hervey and Eric Caligiuri discuss this case on this episode of The Briefing. Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel here or read Eric's article about this case here. Show Notes: Scott: I'm Scott Hervey from Weintraub Tobin. My colleague Eric Caligiuri wrote an interesting article for The Briefing about a recent copyright ruling involving competing LEGO sets. And we're not talking about just any old LEGO set, but a LEGO Brick interpretation of the Second Holy Temple. We are going to talk about this case, the case of JBrick versus Chazak Kinder, Inc, on this installment of The Briefing by Weintraub Tobin. Eric, welcome back to the podcast. Eric: Thanks, Scott. Good to be here. Scott: Great. Can you give us a rundown of the case? Eric: Yeah, sure. Of course. The founders of Plaintiff JBrick created a LEGO brick Second Holy Temple product that was based on independent research and at least three years of studying of historical teachings. Plaintiff also consulted with various rabbis as part of the design process. According to the court, the Second Holy Temple product is a tangible, sculptural interpretation of what the Second Holy Temple may have looked like in real life, based on the written words and interpretations of Hebrew scholars and philosophers. Scott: And JBrick even went so far as to obtain copyright registrations for its Second Holy Temple product, along with the copyright registrations for the product's photographs, right? Eric: Yes, that's correct. And now the plaintiff, JBrick, alleged that the defendant's product was almost an exact replica of its own Second Holy Temple product, containing all the unique features that set JBrick's product apart from its competitors. Accordingly, JBrick filed a complaint in May of 2021, citing claims for copyright infringement and unfair competition against these defendants. The defendants responded by claiming or by filing counterclaims for non-infringement of copyright, copyright invalidity, torture's interference with prospective economic advantage, and false advertising. Scott: And let's forward to the recent court ruling. And in that ruling, the court addressed the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the defendant's counterclaim for copyright invalidity. So, under the Copyright Act, a copyright registration creates a rebuttal presumption that the copyright is valid. This presumption of validity may be rebutted where other evidence casts doubt on that question. So, given what we have here, given that JBrick has copyright registrations, the burden it shifted to the defendant to come forward with evidence that the works in question were copied from the public domain. Eric: Yes, that's exactly right. So, the defendants argued that because the information concerning the Second Holy Temple is in the public domain, the plaintiff's copyrighted works are not original. As a result, the defendants contended that the plaintiff's second Holy Temple product can be copied and used in derivative works. The defendants further argued that a historically accurate replication does not constitute a new and original work. Scott: