Page:Daniel Schrock v. Learning Curve International, Inc. 7th Cir. 08-1296.djvu/11

 contain at least some originality in their rendition, see Mannion, 377 F. Supp. 2d at 452 (“Unless a photograph replicates another work with total or near-total fidelity, it will be at least somewhat original in the rendition.”), except perhaps for a very limited class  of photographs that can be characterized as “slavish copies” of an underlying work, Bridgeman Art Library, Ltd. v. Corel Corp., 25 F. Supp. 2d 421, 427 (S.D.N.Y. 1998) (finding no originality in transparencies of paintings where the goal was  to  reproduce those  works  exactly and thus to minimize or eliminate any individual expression).

Our review of Schrock’s photographs convinces us that they do not fall into the narrow category of photographs that can be  classified  as “slavish copies,”  lacking any independently created expression. To be sure, the photographs are accurate depictions of the three-dimensional “Thomas & Friends” toys, but Schrock’s artistic and technical choices combine to create a two-dimensional image that is subtly but nonetheless sufficiently his own. This is confirmed by Schrock’s deposition testimony describing his creative process in