Defendant Patricia McCormick was a consultant for the film “How to Make an American Quilt” (1995). In this role, McCormick hired quilters to design for the motion picture, one of whom was plaintiff Barbara Brown. Brown signed an agreement to design a pattern titled “The Life Before,” from which two copies of a quilt would be produced. Subsequently, the script called for another quilt. Instead of contracting with Brown again, McCormick designed another quilt titled “Where Love Resides.” This quilt featured a block closely resembling Brown’s “Wedding Block” in “The Life Before.”

Following the release of the film, the production team created promotional merchandise featuring “The Life Before” quilt. Additionally, McCormick entered into an agreement with MCA/Universal Merchandising, Inc. to publish a book entitled “Pieces of an American Quilt.” For this purpose, Brown permitted McCormick to use photographs of “The Life Before” and “Marriage Block” for a royalty fee.

To promote her book, McCormick launched a publicity tour featuring actual quilts used in the film provided by the film’s producer. Brown notified McCormick and MCA that she did not authorize such use of the quilts; McCormick declined to comply with Brown’s request to cease using the quilts. Brown sued McCormick, MCA, Amblin Entertainment, Universal City Studios ("Universal") and others for copyright infringement of “The Life Before.”

The district court ruled in favor of Brown. The district court found that the contract between Brown and McCormick permitted McCormick and Universal to make two copies of “The Life Before” quilt, but not to use Brown’s design, or a derivative of that design, for another quilt. Additionally, the district court found that because Brown is the sole author and copyright owner of the “Marriage Block” and “The Life Before,” Universal and McCormick infringed Brown’s rights when they impermissibly used the designs for anything other than “The Life Before” quilt. Further, the district court found that McCormick infringed Brown’s design in her creation of the “Marriage Block.” Thus, any display or use of “Where Love Resides” by McCormick, Universal, and the entity which produced promotional materials constituted infringement. None of the infringements, however, were deemed willful and the damages awarded were fairly minimal.

Brown appealed on damages and the Fourth Circuit confirmed in an unpublished opinion.

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