Page:United States Court of Appeals 06-4222.djvu/20

 In reaching this conclusion, we do not for a moment seek to downplay the considerable amount of time, effort, and skill that went into making Meshwerks' digital wire-frame models. But, in assessing the originality of a work for which copyright protection is sought, we look only at the final product, not the process, and the fact that intensive, skillful, and even creative labor is invested in the process of creating a product does not guarantee its copyrightability. See Feist, 499 U.S. at 359-60; Howard B. Abrams, Law of Copyright § 2:8 ("Even if the process is both expensive and intricate, an exact or near-exact duplicate of an original should not qualify for copyright.") (emphasis added); Wojcik, supra, 30 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L. J. at 267 ("This is not to say that [accurately reproducing an underlying image] requires no skill or effort; it simply means that such skill and effort does not suffice to invoke the highly advantageous legal monopoly granted under the Copyright Act."). In the case before us, there is no doubt that transposing the physical appearances of Toyota's vehicles from three dimensions to two, such that computer-screen images accurately reflect Toyota's products, was labor intensive and required a great amount of skill. But because (...continued)