## Facts

- Jovani Fashion, Ltd. designed and sold women’s dresses, including a prom dress with a strapless bodice and full skirt.
- Jovani claimed protectable expression in decorative features, including the size and arrangement of sequins and beads on the bust, wire-edged tulle on the skirt, and a ruched-satin waistband, as well as the overall arrangement of these elements.
- Jovani obtained copyright registrations for catalogs depicting its dresses and sued competitors, including Fiesta Fashions, alleging infringement based on copied dress designs.
- Fiesta argued the asserted dress design was not copyrightable because clothing is a “useful article” and the identified decorative features were not separable from the garment’s utilitarian aspects.
- The district court dismissed the complaint under Rule 12(b)(6), concluding the dress lacked copyrightable, separable features.

## Issues

1. Whether the dress’s decorative elements were “pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features” that could be identified separately from, and exist independently of, the dress’s utilitarian aspects under 17 U.S.C. § 101.
2. Whether the complaint plausibly alleged protectable subject matter sufficient to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal on de novo review.
- The court held the alleged features—sequins and crystals on the bodice, satin ruching at the waist, and tulle layers on the skirt—were not physically or conceptually separable from the dress as clothing.
- Because the complaint did not plausibly allege copyrightable expression in the dress design, it failed to state a claim for infringement.

## Legal Principles

- Articles of clothing are “useful articles” and are not protected by copyright as such.
- Design elements of a useful article are protectable only if they are physically or conceptually separable from the article’s utilitarian aspects and capable of existing independently as pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works.
- Ornamental aspects that are integrated into a garment’s overall design and function, even if aesthetically appealing, do not satisfy separability.
- A copyright complaint must plead sufficient facts to state a plausible claim; failure to plausibly allege protectable subject matter warrants dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6).

## Conclusion

The court held that the prom dress’s embellishments were inseparable from the dress’s utilitarian function as clothing, so the complaint did not plausibly allege protectable copyright subject matter and was properly dismissed.


Jovani Fashion, Ltd. v. Fiesta Fashions, 500 F. App’x 42 (2d Cir. 2012)