Great Minds v. FedEx, 16-CV-1462 (E.D.N.Y. 2016)
Great Minds is a non-profit organization that works to create educational materials that promote high-quality public education. Great Minds creates a variety of materials which it publishes and sells, and utilizes the revenue to expand its mission and reach.
Great Minds utilized a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – Share Alike 4.0 International Public License (“License”) to allow the public to “reproduce and share” its educational materials for “NonCommercial purposes only.” However, when Great Minds learned that certain FedEx Office locations in Michigan and New York had copied its materials at the request of local school districts, Great Minds considered the activity to be infringing—beyond the scope of the License—because FedEx is a commercial print shop. FedEx, on the other hand, considered its reproduction of Great Minds’ materials to be lawful because it was assisting the school districts in their licensed, noncommercial use.
On March 24, 2016, Great Minds filed suit against FedEx, asserting various claims of copyright infringement. On August 30, 2016, Creative Commons (the organization that drafted the License utilized by Great Minds) requested leave to submit an amicus brief in support of FedEx. Creative Commons stated in a letter to the court that Great Minds’ interpretation of the License is wrong, and that it would render the License “all but useless.” Creative Commons stated that accepting Great Minds’ interpretation of the License would “substantially diminish the utility of a license that enables the sharing of knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible and innovative world.”
Great Minds submitted a letter requesting that the court deny Creative Commons’ request to submit an amicus brief. FedEx has submitted a letter to the court requesting that it grant Creative Commons’ request.