Plaintiff Dr. Seuss Enterprises owns the copyrights of works by the late Theodor S. Giesel—better known as Dr. Seuss—including the picture book titled Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (“Go!”). Defendant ComicMix LLC ("ComicMix") created a Kickstarter campaign to produce and distribute the allegedly infringing work titled Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go! (“Boldly”), which combines elements of Go! with the sci-fi franchise Star Trek. The fundraising campaign touted the mash-up as a parody and therefore a fair use of the Seuss work. Upon learning about the Kiskstarter campaign, the Dr. Seuss Enterprises brought suit against ComicMix and Boldly's creators (together, the "ComicMix defendants") alleging copyright infringement. (The Star Trek copyright owners were not party to the suit.) The district court granted the ComicMix defendants' motion for summary judgment, holding that Boldly was a fair use of Go!. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit found that all four factors of the fair use inquiry weighed against the ComicMix defendants and reversed the district court’s decision.

First, the Ninth Circuit ruled that Boldly was not a parody nor otherwise transformative, but merely mimicked the characteristic style of Go! without critiquing or commenting on it. Moreover, the appellate court found that Boldly possessed none of the benchmarks of transformative use, such as further purpose, new aesthetic and understanding, or new message. Second, the appellate court also held that the nature of Go! weighed against fair use given that it is a creative and expressive work that warrants broad copyright protection. Third, the appellate court found the quantitative amount taken by Boldly to be substantial, replicating “as much and as closely as possible from Go!, the exact composition, the particular arrangements of visual components, and the swatches of well-known illustration.” The appellate court further explained that the qualitative value used by Boldly is also substantial because the ComicMix defendants “took the heart of Dr. Seuss’ work.” Lastly, the appellate court found, in light of Dr. Seuss Enterprises' extensive licensing of derivative work rights in Go!, that the potential market for Seuss’ work also weighs against finding fair use. The Ninth Circuit concluded that the ComicMix defendants “intentionally targeted and aimed to capitalize on the same graduation market as Go!" while also undermining the market for derivative works of Go!.