&pizza Loses Copyright Claims Against UK Replica @pizza
Written July 23, 2020
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 17, 2020, dismissed American fast casual pizza restaurant &pizza’s copyright suit against the operator of the “@pizza” restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, because it failed to show that @pizza violated their copyright and that the restaurant would harm their US commerce. IMAPizza LLC v. At Pizza Ltd., D.C. Cir., No. 18-07168, 7/17/20.
IMAPizza Inc. alleged Rupert Lyle and Bhasker Dhir visited &pizza locations and took photos to create and market their copycat version @pizza in Edinburgh, Scotland. Downloading copyrighted photos from servers in the U.S. is domestic infringement “regardless of where the receiving computer is located,” IMAPizza said.
But infringement under the Copyright Act depends on where a picture is reproduced, and IMAPizza failed to allege such reproduction happened domestically, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.