• In the first step, the court dissects the copy-righted work’s structure and isolates each level of abstraction or generality (abstraction test). In the second step, the court examines each level of abstraction and separates out the unprotectable elements such as ideas, processes, facts, public-domain information, and merger material (filtration test). In the third step, the court compares the resulting core of protectable expression with the accused work to determine whether substantial elements of the copyrighted work have been misappropriated (comparison test). This test was first applied by the Second Circuit in Computer Associates Int’l, Inc. v. Altai, Inc., 982 F.2d 693 (2d Cir. 1992). Although that case involved computer software and the test is usu. applied in software-infringement cases, the test has also been applied to nonsoftware works.
— Also termed abstraction-filtration test. See SIMILARITY. Cf. ABSTRACTIONS TEST. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 53(1).]
