Quilt Paint Appearing in the Episode of the ROC

Ringgold v. Black Entertainment Television, Inc., 126 F.3d 70 (2d Cir. 1997)

Faith Ringgold painted Church Picnic Story Quilt which appeared in the background of an episode of the ROC television series. The quilt was either partially or fully visible in 9 segments of the episode for between 1.86 and 4.16 seconds each time, for a total visibility of 26.75 seconds.

The court held that the use of the quilt paint was more than de minimis:

“From the standpoint of a quantitative assessment of the segments, the principal 4-5 second segment in which almost all of the poster is clearly visible, albeit in less than perfect focus, reenforced by the briefer segments in which smaller portions are visible, all totalling 26 – 27 seconds, are not de minimis copying.

Defendants further contend that the segments showing any portion of the poster are de minimis from the standpoint of qualitative sufficiency and therefore not actionable copying because no protectable aspects of plaintiff’s expression are discernible. In defendant’s view, the television viewer sees no more than “some vague stylized painting that includes black people,” and can discern none of Ringgold’s particular expression of her subjects. That is about like saying that a videotape of the Mona Lisa shows only a painting of a woman with a wry smile. Indeed, it seems disingenuous for the defendant HBO, whose production staff evidently thought that the poster was well suited as a set decoration for the African -American church scene of a ROC episode, now to contend that no visually significant aspect of the poster is discernible. In some circumstances, a visual work, who selected by production staff for thematic relevance, or at least for its decorative value, might ultimately be filmed at such a distance and so out of focus that a typical program viewer would not discern any decorative effect that the work of art contributes to the set. (click here for the The Graffiti Case for comparison). But that is not this case. The painting component of the poster is recognizable as a painting, and with sufficient observable detail for the average lay observer to discern African-Americans in Ringgold’s colourful, virtually two-dimensional style. The de minimis threshold for actionable copying of protected expression has been crossed.”