## Facts

- Varsity Brands and related entities designed and sold cheerleading uniforms and warm-ups featuring registered two-dimensional graphic designs consisting of chevrons, stripes, lines, color blocks, and other geometric elements.
- Varsity’s registrations identified the works as “2-dimensional artwork” or “fabric design (artwork)” fixed on the surface of uniforms.
- Star Athletica, a competitor, marketed cheerleading uniforms bearing surface graphics Varsity alleged were substantially similar to Varsity’s registered designs.
- Varsity sued Star for copyright infringement, alleging violation of its exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and display the registered designs.
- Star’s primary defense on appeal was that the registrations were invalid because the designs were part of the unprotectable “design of a useful article” (clothing) and were not separable from utilitarian aspects.

## Issues

1. Whether the two-dimensional surface designs on cheerleading uniforms qualify as copyrightable “pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features” that can be identified separately from, and exist independently of, the uniforms’ utilitarian aspects under 17 U.S.C. § 101.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment for Star.
- The court held Varsity’s two-dimensional surface graphics were separable from the uniforms’ utilitarian aspects and therefore eligible for copyright protection.
- The court entered partial summary judgment for Varsity on copyrightability and remanded for further proceedings on remaining issues.

## Legal Principles

- Under 17 U.S.C. § 101, features of a useful article are copyrightable only if they can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the article’s utilitarian aspects.
- For two-dimensional surface designs, the analysis primarily concerns conceptual separability: whether the claimed artwork can be perceived and exist as a stand-alone pictorial or graphic work, independent of the article’s function.
- The separability inquiry focuses on the claimed design features, not on whether the useful article would still function or be recognized as the same type of item if the designs were absent.
- Copyright protection for a useful article extends to separable two-dimensional artwork, but not to the article’s cut, shape, or overall clothing design.

## Conclusion

The court held that Varsity’s registered cheerleading-uniform surface graphics could be identified and exist as independent two-dimensional artwork apart from the uniforms’ utilitarian function, making the designs copyrightable subject matter and requiring reversal of summary judgment for the alleged infringer.


Varsity Brands, Inc. v. Star Athletica, L.L.C., 799 F.3d 468 (6th Cir. 2015)