9th Circuit Sets Phasers On Star Trek/Seuss Mash-Up

Court Finds Alleged Parody Fails on Copyright Fair Use Factors but Passes Rogers Test to Avoid Trademark Liability

On December 18, 2020, the 9th Circuit held that the creators of a Star Trek/Dr. Seuss "mash-up" ventured beyond the edge of the fair-use universe by taking too much of Dr. Seuss's iconic illustrations. Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. ComicMix LLC, 983 F.3d 443, 450-51. Although the court detected copyright infringement of Dr. Seuss's work, it held that the plaintiff's trademark claims did not scan.

As the opinion explains, a mash-up combines expressive elements from multiple sources, such as a film or book, and includes characters or situations from two or more previously published works. In a prelude to this case, the 9th Circuit previously held that fair use did not protect another Seuss-based mash-up by different authors: a retelling of the O.J. Simpson murder trial in the world of "The Cat in the Hat." Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc.