Frederick E. Bouchat Case Study

FACTS: Frederick E. Bouchat is an amatuer artist who has a ninth grade education and works as a security guard at the entrance of Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, in downtown Baltimore. He is known for his original art and frequently showed his work to people at the State of Maryland office building on St. Paul Street. In the fall of 1995, the Cleveland Browns’ football team relocated to Baltimore. Excited about the Cleveland Browns’ move to Baltimore, Bouchat designed a logo for the football team in November 1995. The logo consisted of a portion of the Maryland flag and a raven inspired by the late Edgar Allen Poe. Bouchat designed the logo and affixed it on a mini football and gave it to Eugene A. Conti, Jr the Secretary of the Department of Licensing and Regulation, which Conti kept on display in his office. Conti arranged a meeting on March 28, 1996 with John Moag the chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) to feature him in the employee newsletters with his sketches. Moag instructed Bouchat to fax his logo sketches to team officials whose offices were in the same building after informing him that the new teams name is Baltimore Ravens. Bouchat sent the fax of his sketches on April 1 or 2 1996, but did not keep the fax transmittal receipt. In June 1996, the Baltimore Ravens revealed their logos to the public and the logo was very similar to the logo sketches that Bouchat fax. Bouchat filed a lawsuit
RULE: Under the Copyright Act of 976, protects authorship of original work from being reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. [1] The court used four certifying questions to determine whether or not the Baltimore Ravens had access to Bouchat logo sketches and whether he was protected under the Copyright Act. They included [2]:
1) Was the plaintiff's proof of a reasonable possibility of access legally