Facts
In 1971, Erica Jobst sold her puppet manufacturing company "ERI-Werkstätte" to Hardy Löhrer. As part of this sale, she also transferred the copyrights on the puppet heads she had created to him. In 1977, Ms. Jobst terminated the licensing agreement concluded with Löhrer. In 1979, she then filed a lawsuit to prohibit Löhrer from manufacturing and selling the puppet heads and molds she had designed, on the grounds that they were protected by copyright. The Cantonal Court of Bern dismissed the claim, finding that Ms. Jobst had transferred all her copyrights on these elements when she sold her company. Furthermore, the court considered that the puppet heads and molds did not constitute works within the meaning of the CopA. Ms. Jobst appealed this decision to the Federal Tribunal, which ultimately dismissed her appeal.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal confirmed that the puppet heads and molds used to manufacture them were not entitled to copyright protection. Although the form of the puppet heads may have reflected a certain creativity on the part of their designer, the Tribunal found that their overall appearance remained too close to stereotypes and characteristics generally associated with certain types of characters. Thus, the distinctive details were not sufficiently pronounced to confer an original and individual character to these heads within the meaning of the CopA.
The Tribunal emphasized that to benefit from copyright protection,…