Cavalier v. Random House, Inc.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that works’ setting in the “night sky ... naturally and necessarily flows from the basic plot premise of a child’s journey through the night sky; therefore, the night sky setting constitutes a [scene á faire] and cannot support a finding of substantial similarity”
• noting that general plot ideas, familiar stock scenes, situations or incidents that flow naturally from a basic plot premise, etc., are not protected by copyright law
• finding as unprotectable “the general premise of a child, invited by a moon-type character, who takes a journey through the night sky and returns safely to bed to fall asleep”
• finding no triable issue of fact on the issue of whether parties' works were substantially similar under the extrinsic test where, inter alia , the works differed \markedly\ in dialogue
• “[T]his setting naturally and necessarily flows from the basic plot premise ... [and] therefore ... constitutes scenes-a-faire and cannot support a finding of substantial similarity”
• “Scenes-a-faire, or situations and incidents that flow necessarily or naturally from a basic plot premise, cannot sustain a finding of infringement.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).