Eltra Corp is a typesetting equipment manufacturer who filed a copyright registration on an alphabet and other typographical symbols for its equipment. Eltra hired a designer to produce a custom typeface for $11,000. Eltra registered the typeface with the Copyright Office as a "work of art", which was rejected. Following the rejection Eltra filed a case with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia who denied a motions for summary judgment and dismissed the action arguing that no element in combination or alone can be considered a work of art under § 5(g) of the Copyright Act. Eltra appealed the decision.
Opinion
Donald S. Russell wrote the opinion affirming the decision of the district court. Russell argues that a type face is an industrial design and that there is a distinction between copyrightable works of applied art and uncopyrighted works of industrial design. The distinction is expressed in the regulation and the intent of the 1976 revision of the Copyright Act, when it was written.