Jim Clark, an artist in Birmingham, submitted his logo design for the Birmingham Cougars football team, and the Cougars used a logo design that was very similar to Clark's design for their team logo during the 1996-1998 seasons. Clark sued the Cougars for copyright infringement for using his design as their logo without his permission, and the court ruled that the Cougars had improperly used Clark's design for their logo and had infringed on his copyright of that design.

The Cougars changed their logo for the 1999 season, but they started showing highlight films from their 1996-1998 seasons in their stadium, on their website, and on their television channel, and the logo that Clark had designed and that the Cougars had improperly used during those seasons appeared in the highlight films.

Clark sued the Cougars a second time, alleging that the appearance of the logo he designed in the highlight films was, again, copyright infringement.

Is the Cougar's use of the logo on the highlight films protected by the fair use doctrine