abstraction-filtration-comparison test. Copyright. A judicially created test for determining whether substantial similarity exists between two works in an action for infringement. • 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).]
ABSTRACTIONS TEST
abstractions test. Copyright. A means of comparing copyrighted material with material that allegedly infringes the copyright by examining whether the actual substance has been copied or whether the two works merely share the same abstract ideas. • The primary authority for the abstractions test is Judge Learned Hand’s opinion in Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp., 45 F.2d 119 (2d Cir. 1930). Although referred to as a “test,” it is not a bright-line test, but an approach to discerning the boundaries of protectable expression by isolating and comparing each level of abstraction in the two works, from the lowest (most detailed) to the highest (most conceptual). Cf. ABSTRACTION-FILTRATION-COMPARISON TEST; LOOK-AND-FEEL TEST. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 53(1).]
资深译员姚坚，毕业于一所培养高级翻译以及跨文化事务专家的精英大学，专注翻译各种与
私募资本有关的法律文件。
