U.S. Federal District Court Clears Path for ICC Copyright Complaint against IAPMO.

A Federal Court on Monday cleared the path for ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) to proceed with its copyright infringement complaint against the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, Inc. (IAPMO) when the court denied IAPMO’s motion to have the case dismissed. In a 25-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan struck down IAPMO’s arguments to dismiss ICC-ES’ Federal copyright claims as “unavailing,” noting that side-by-side comparisons of ICC-ES’ copyrighted materials with IAPMO’s allegedly infringing works that were presented to the Court as evidence along with ICC-ES’ complaint, “could permit a reasonable observer to conclude that appropriation occurred.”