Defendants Were Not Contributory Infringers Because They Lacked Knowledge of Infringement
Scholz Design Inc. v. Jaffe, No. 06 C 0075, 2007 WL 896536 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 21, 2007) (Grady, J.).
Judge Grady, after a bench trial, entered judgment on behalf of defendants because they had neither directly or contributorily infringed plaintiff's copyrighted home design. The Court held that, while plaintiffs approved the design, any actual copying of the copyrighted design was done by defendants' architects. Additionally, the Court held that plaintiff introduced no evidence at trial to prove that defendants knew that plaintiff's copyright was being infringed by defendants' architect. The Court held that, at most, defendants knew plaintiff's design was being used, but had no reason to believe the architect was infringing the design.
