## Facts

- A cast-iron “Uncle Sam” mechanical coin bank design had entered the public domain.
- Jeffrey Snyder commissioned production of a plastic version that closely replicated the public-domain bank, with minor dimensional and detail changes largely attributable to plastic molding.
- Snyder registered the plastic bank as a sculptural work under the Copyright Act of 1909.
- Snyder recorded the registration with U.S. Customs, and Customs excluded L. Batlin & Son, Inc.’s similar imported plastic banks as allegedly infringing.
- Batlin sued, asserting Snyder’s registration was invalid because the plastic bank was a near-copy of a public-domain work with only trivial variations.
- The district court granted Batlin a preliminary injunction requiring cancellation of the Customs recordation and restraining Snyder and his licensee from enforcing the asserted copyright.

## Issues

1. Whether a plastic reproduction of a public-domain cast-iron bank contained sufficient nontrivial, distinguishable original expression to qualify for copyright as a derivative work under the 1909 Act.
2. Whether the district court abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction based on a strong likelihood that Snyder’s copyright would be held invalid.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed the preliminary injunction.
- The court held that Snyder’s plastic bank was insufficiently original because the differences from the public-domain cast-iron bank were trivial and largely functional.
- The court concluded the district court did not abuse its discretion in enjoining Snyder’s use of Customs enforcement given the low likelihood that the asserted copyright would be found valid.

## Legal Principles

- A derivative work based on public-domain material is copyrightable only if it contains an original contribution that is substantial rather than merely trivial, reflected in a distinguishable variation from the underlying work.
- Technical skill, expense, labor, size reduction, material changes, and manufacturing-driven modifications do not, without more, constitute protectable authorship.
- Copyright in a derivative work, when valid, extends only to the author’s original contributions; it does not withdraw the underlying public-domain design from public use.
- Courts should prevent the use of minimal alterations and registration to obtain de facto exclusivity over public-domain works.
- In copyright cases, preliminary injunctive relief may be granted where the movant makes a clear showing of probable success on the merits; a strong showing of likely invalidity supports enjoining enforcement measures that exclude competing goods.

## Conclusion

The court held that a near-faithful plastic reproduction of a public-domain “Uncle Sam” mechanical bank, altered only in minor and functionally motivated ways, lacked the required originality for derivative-work protection, and it affirmed injunctive relief preventing enforcement of that registration through Customs.


L. Batlin & Son, Inc. v. Snyder, 536 F.2d 486 (2d Cir. 1976) (en banc)