Home Is Where The Non-Infringement Is

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling that the plaintiff did not offer sufficient proof that the defendant's work was substantially similar to the home designs in which it claimed copyright or that the defendant had access to its designs. Design Basics, LLC v. Lexington Homes, Inc., Case No. 16-3817 (7th Cir., June 6, 2017) (Hamilton, J).

Design Basics, which claims copyrights to about 2,700 home designs, sued Lexington Homes, claiming that it infringed four of Design Basics' home designs and built about 50 homes using those designs. After the district court granted summary judgment to Lexington, finding no evidence that it had access to Design Basics' home designs, Design Basics appealed.