## Facts

- A Los Angeles redevelopment authority required a new downtown office project (the “801 Tower”) to include public art and a “streetwall” extending the building’s edge to the property line to create a continuous streetscape.
- The developer commissioned sculptor Andrew Leicester to create an artwork for the project’s courtyard under a requirement that the building, façade, streetwall, and courtyard share common design elements.
- Leicester designed “Zanja Madre,” an installation including multiple towers; several towers formed the required streetwall along the street, and other towers were placed within the courtyard.
- The streetwall towers were physically connected to and visually coordinated with the building, using similar materials and motifs to create a unified overall appearance.
- Leicester registered the Zanja Madre installation as a single sculptural work.
- The developer permitted Warner to film the premises; the 801 Tower and four streetwall towers appeared briefly in background shots in *Batman Forever* as part of a fictional Gotham City bank complex.
- Leicester sued Warner and related entities for copyright infringement based on the film’s depiction of the towers.

## Issues

1. Whether the streetwall towers constituted part of an “architectural work” for purposes of the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act.
2. If the towers were part of an architectural work, whether filming and displaying their image in a motion picture was exempt under 17 U.S.C. § 120(a) as a pictorial representation of a publicly visible building.
3. Whether classifying the towers as part of an architectural work improperly eliminated independent protection for sculptural works attached to buildings.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed judgment for Warner after a bench trial in the district court.
- The court held the streetwall towers were part of the building’s architectural work because they were required to complete the building’s streetwall, and were physically and aesthetically integrated into the overall design.
- Because the building (including the streetwall towers) was located in or ordinarily visible from a public place, Warner’s filming and display of the building complex in the movie was a noninfringing pictorial representation under 17 U.S.C. § 120(a).
- The court rejected the argument that its approach abolished separate sculptural protection, treating the classification of integrated elements as a fact-specific determination.

## Legal Principles

- An “architectural work” includes the overall form and the arrangement and composition of spaces and elements; artistic features may be part of the architectural work when integrated into the building’s design.
- For purposes of § 120(a), the key question is whether the depicted elements are part of a building’s architectural work located in or ordinarily visible from a public place, not how the artist registered the work.
- 17 U.S.C. § 120(a) bars infringement claims based on making, distributing, or publicly displaying pictorial representations (including film footage) of qualifying architectural works.
- Whether an object attached to a building remains a separate sculptural work or becomes part of the architectural work depends on the object’s functional, structural, and visual integration with the building.

## Conclusion

The court held that Leicester’s streetwall towers were part of the 801 Tower’s architectural work, so Warner’s brief on-screen depiction of the publicly visible building complex in *Batman Forever* was exempt under 17 U.S.C. § 120(a) and did not infringe Leicester’s copyright.


Leicester v. Warner Bros., 232 F.3d 1212 (9th Cir. 2000)