The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on Tuesday ordered further proceedings to determine whether a skeletal sculpture used in human anatomy instruction deserves copyright protection.

Balanced Body University, which is a training program for Pilates instructors from the company Fusion Pilates, bought multiple sculptures of “the Maniken.” The object resembles a model human skeleton, but is much larger and allows students to add clay to show human tissue.

Jon Zahourek, an artist and former anatomy instructor in Denver, created the first Maniken model in 1977. In 1992, he established an office and facility to manufacture the Maniken in Colorado. His company, Zahourek Systems, Inc., is registered with the secretary of state’s office. 

When the university used its Manikens to advertise and instruct its students on human anatomy, Zahourek sued for copyright infringement.

A federal district court deemed that the Maniken was a “useful article,” meaning it had “an intrinsic utilitarian function that is merely to portray the appearance of a life-like form.” The U.S. Copyright Office notes that the law does not protect the “mechanical or utilitarian aspects” of such creations.

The university argued that the Maniken taught anatomy through an understanding of muscle movement, and its deployment as an educational tool meant it is a useful article. 

However, the appellate panel noted that textbooks are also educational tools, but are subject to copyright because of the information they impart.

“The Maniken might be useful for teaching anatomy, but a fact finder could reasonably attribute this usefulness to the information that the Maniken conveys about human anatomy,” wrote Judge Robert E. Bacharach. “If the Maniken’s usefulness lies solely in the information it conveys, the Maniken would not be a useful article.”

According to the copyright office, a useful article may still contain copyrightable features – ones that are pictorial, graphic or sculptural in nature. The circuit panel agreed that the district court was wrong to dismiss the lawsuit without determining in depth whether the Maniken had such elements.

The Maniken’s reason for being useful to students, the court observed, could have been entirely due to the information it conveyed through its sculpted human shape. It was “not just any three-dimensional structure, and a fact finder could reasonably find that the spaces to add clay provided utility only because of the Maniken’s resemblance,” wrote Bacharach.

The case is Zahourek Systems Inc. v. Balanced Body University.