Burger commercial not creative enough for copyright
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One grilled hamburger looks pretty much like any other grilled hamburger, and you have to come up with something more creative for it to be considered unique and, therefore, copyrightable.
That’s basically the conclusion, anyway, of a federal judge in litigation filed by a hamburger franchise that charged another franchise with ripping off several elements of its TV commercial.
According to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman in Chicago in Culver Franchising System Inc. v. Steak N Shake Inc., Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin-based Culver’s began airing a TV commercial promoting its “ButterBurger” in April 2015, while Indianapolis-based Steak N Shake began an allegedly similar TV commercial seven months later. The ruling was issued in August but first publicized last week in the “Chicago IP Litigation” blog.
According to Culver’s copyright lawsuit, Steak N Shake had copied several elements of Culver’s own commercial. It said both, for instance, opened with a butcher in a white uniform in a butcher shop, showed three different cuts of beef and displayed patties being grilled and flattened with a spatula.
But Judge Feinerman did not buy Culver’s argument. Several of the elements identified by Culver’s “lack the necessary modicum of creativity to give rise to copyright protection,” said the ruling.
Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald’s Corp., for example, has regularly featured grilling hamburgers in its Big Mac burger commercials since at least 1975, said Judge Feinerman in dismissing the litigation.
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