Beaudin v. Ben and Jerrys (2nd Cir. 1996) This appeal concerns a claim of copyright infringement of hand-painted artwork on cloth caps, in a design that uses the pattern of the black splotches on a white background seen on Holstein cows. The appeal is brought pro se by Louis P. Beaudin, who appropriately styles himself "Louie The Cowman," Beaudin v. Ben and Jerry's Homemade, Inc., 896 F. Supp. 356 (D. Vt. 1995). We agree with the District Court that no protectable elements of appellant's copyright could reasonably be found to have been infringed and therefore affirm... Background Beaudin holds two copyrights for "cow" artwork. In 1988 he obtained a copyright for a fabric design for "Lophdin Jeans," white jeans with black splotches. He calls the product "cow jeans." In 1992, he applied for a copyright on a similar design for use on hats. The Copyright Office initially rejected the application, but approved it after Beaudin acceded to the Office's suggestion to change the description to "artwork on hats." The application characterizes the artwork as "Holstein, Dalmatian, or Appaloosa spots on hats. However you perceive them." Beaudin hand-paints his "Holstein" patterns on cloth caps, which he calls "cow hats." In 1990 Beaudin sold Ben & Jerry's 12 cow hats for resale at its Montpelier, Vt., store. Thus alerted to the idea of selling caps with Holstein cow patterns, Ben & Jerry's contracted with various manufacturers for production of cow hats. The idea of placing Holstein-like black splotches on a white background is not the subject of the copyright, which protects only Beaudin's expression of this idea.... Indeed, it is doubtful whether taking a pattern that appears in nature and rendering it in a variety of minute variations that inevitably result from hand-painting satisfies even the minimal originality requirement of copyright. As the District Court ruled, however, whatever aspects of Beaudin's expression of his idea merit protection have indisputably not been infringed by Ben & Jerry's. Where the quantum of originality is slight and the resulting copyright is "thin," infringement will be established only by very close copying because the majority of the work is unprotectable.