The plaintiff, an artist, brought an action for copyright infringement against the defendant, another artist, alleging that the defendant's paintings of crumpled paper infringed the copyright in the plaintiff's 'Classical Series' of paintings.
The court found that while copyright subsisted in the plaintiff's individual paintings, it did not subsist in the series as a whole.
The court dismissed the action, concluding that the defendant's works were not substantial copies or colourable imitations of the plaintiff's works, as the similarities were based on commonplace artistic techniques.
Furthermore, the court found that the defendant had independently created his works using his own photographic models.
