Yacht Compilation Displayed Enough Creative Spark To Warrant More Protection

Affirming a district court’s denial of defendants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law and jury instruction on copyright infringement, the United States District Court for the Eleventh Circuit further articulated the originality requirement and standard for infringement of copyrights with respect to compilations. BUC Int’l Corp., v. Int’l Yacht Council Limited, Case No. 04-13653 (11th Cir., June 21, 2007) (Tjoflat, J).

The work at issue was the "Standard Listing Form and Format" (the Format) used in connection with a multiple listing service (MLS) of recreational boats and yachts called BUCNET. This service included a computer network and software that allowed brokers to share, compare, search and track the status of vessel listings stored in plaintiff’s database. The Format was created to facilitate the presentation of information on BUCNET, and the plaintiff obtained a copyright in the "compilation, selection and organization of [the BUCNET] database." The plaintiff later sued