POLLICK v. KIMBERLY-CLARK CORP.
United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Northern Division.
January 5, 2012.
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Defendant's "Jean Diapers" (Front) Defendant's "Jean Diapers" (Back)
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Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Granting the motion, the Court explained that the Copyright Act protects authors' expressions, but not their ideas, and that although Plaintiff was entitled to protection of his particular expression of jeans as diapers, he was not entitled to exclude all others from manufacturing diapers designed to resemble jeans. Additionally, the Court awarded Defendant attorney fees and costs.
Plaintiff now asks that the Court reconsider its conclusions, reiterating that "the parties' products are thematically [sic] related, and Plaintiff respectfully contends that the Court's point-by-point comparison of the elememts [sic] was insufficient to support an absence of substantial similarltiy [sic]." Pl.'s Mot. Reconsideration 2, ECF No. 16 ("Pl.'s Mot."). Plaintiff further requests the Court reconsider the award of attorney fees and costs.
II"Generally," as noted above, "the court will not grant motions for rehearing or reconsideration that merely present the same issues ruled upon by the court, either expressly or by reasonable implication."). E.D. Mich. LR 7.1(h)(3). Here, the motion for reconsideration reasserts that Defendant infringed Plaintiff's copyright because "the parties' products share common themes — namely, they each show stitching, a blue color, pockets, belt loops, and an exterior label." Pl.'s Mot. 1; see also Pl.'s Resp. Def.'s Mot. Dismiss 10 ("[T]he `aesthetic appeal' of both parties' concepts is essentially the same — namely, a blue denim-colored diaper containing the appearance of stitching of front and back pockets, a waistline . . . and a middle seam."). Plaintiff's argument is unpersuasive.