copyrighted, and a particular expression of that idea or fact, that can be. "This principle, known as the idea/expression or fact/expression dichotomy, applies to all works of authorship. As applied to a factual compilation," the particular matter at issue in Feist, "assuming the absence of original written expression, only the compiler’s selection and arrangement may be protected; the raw facts may be copied at will. This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate. It is the means by which copyright advances the progress of science and art." Feist, 499 U.S. at 350; see also id. at 351 ("In no event may copyright extend to the facts themselves.”). So, in the case of photographs, for which Meshwerks' digital models were designed to serve as practically advantageous substitutes, authors are entitled to copyright protection only for the “incremental contribution," SHL Imaging, Inc., 117 F. Supp. 2d at 311 (internal quotation omitted), represented by their interpretation or expression of the objects of their attention.
B
Applying these principles, evolved in the realm of photography, to the new medium that has come to supplement and even in some ways to supplant it, we think Meshwerks' models are not so much independent creations as (very good) copies of Toyota’s vehicles. In reaching this conclusion we rely on (1) an objective assessment of the particular models before us and (2) the parties' purpose in creating them. All the same, we do not doubt for an instant that the
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