P&G "shell image" toothpaste sequence not copyright protected, Colgate attorney argues.
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
P&G "SHELL IMAGE" FOR TOOTHPASTE NOT COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, COLGATE attorney Ethan Horwitz claimed in closing arguments before Judge Robert Patterson in Manhattan federal court late last year. Horwitz, of the New York City firm Darby & Darby, defended Colgate-Palmolive by arguing that plaintiff Procter & Gamble's depiction of the anticavity action of toothpaste by dipping an egg in acid after it has been brushed with toothpaste is so common an illustration as to be a standard method (scenes a faire) of conveying dentifrices' anticavity action.