This is an appeal by Construction Management Systems, Inc. (CMS) from a summary judgment in favor of Assurance Company of America (Assurance). The district court held that Assurance did not owe CMS a duty to defend against a claim of copyright infringement. We affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
CMS designs and builds homes in the Treasure Valley. On March 4, 1998, CMS entered into a commercial general liability insurance agreement with Assurance covering a one-year period extending through March 4, 1999. Section one of the policy contains the grants of coverage, including Coverage B, which sets forth the requirements for the “advertising injury” liability section of the agreement:
COVERAGE B — PERSONAL AND ADVERTISING INJURY LIABILITY
1. Insuring Agreement.
a. We will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of “personal injury” or “advertising injury” to which this insurance applies. We will have the right and duty to defend the insured against any “suit” seeking those damages. However, we will have no duty to defend the insured against any “suit” seeking damages for “personal injury” or “advertising injury” to which this insurance does not apply. We may, at our discretion, investigate any “occurrence” or offense and settle any claim or “suit” that may result____
b. This insurance applies to:
(2) “Advertisinginjury” caused by an offense committed in the course of advertising your goods, products or services....
Section V of the policy defines “advertising injury”:
1. “Advertising injury” means injury arising out of one or more of the following offenses:
(d) Infringement of copyright, title, or slogan.
On October 8,1998, Woodside Homes, Inc. (Woodside) filed a complaint in United States District Court for the District of Idaho naming CMS as a defendant. Woodside asserted that CMS constructed four homes in Nampa, Idaho, based on architectural plans and technical drawings copyrighted by Woodside.
Shortly after receiving notice of the Wood-side complaint, CMS contacted Assurance and requested that Assurance defend CMS pursuant to the “advertising injury” coverage of the policy. Assurance, however, declined to defend CMS in the suit, stating that “[f]or there to be coverage under the advertising injury section of the policy, it requires there to be a causal connection between the copyright material and use of that material for the purpose of advertising.” A settlement agreement was later reached between CMS and Woodside in the copyright infringement action.
On May 13, 1999, CMS filed for a declaratory judgment, asserting that Assurance breached its duty to defend CMS in the copyright infringement litigation. Both parties moved for summary judgment and on September 1,1999, the district court, holding that the Woodside complaint did not trigger Assurance’s duty to defend under the policy, granted summary judgment in favor of Assurance. On appeal, CMS challenges the district court’s holding.
DISCUSSION
A. Standard of Review
This Court’s review of a district court’s decision on a motion for summary judgment is the same as that required of the district court when originally ruling on the motion.
See East Lizard Butte Water Corp. v. Howell,
B. Assurance’s Duty to Defend Under the CMS Policy
On appeal, CMS argues that the district court erred in holding that Assurance did not owe a duty to defend because Woodside’s complaint revealed a potential for liability for advertising injury arising out of copyright infringement. Even after reading Wood-side’s complaint broadly, we conclude that the complaint does not present a potential for liability. Accordingly, we hold that Assurance did not have a duty to defend CMS in the copyright infringement action.
An insurer’s duty to defend arises upon the filing of a complaint whose allegations, in whole or in part, read broadly, reveal a potential for liability that would be covered by the insured’s policy.
See Kootenai County v. Western Cas. & Sur.,
CMS argues that if the Woodside complaint is read broadly, there is a sufficient connection between the copyright infringement claim and CMS’s advertising activities. CMS asserts that part of the injury alleged by Woodside’s copyright infringement complaint was that the public would confuse Woodside’s homes with those built by CMS. It contends that building the homes, placing them on the market, and having real estate brokers promote them is sufficient to give rise to the potential that the copyright infringement activities were related to or connected with advertising.
The policy in this ease states that Assurance will provide commercial general liability insurance to CMS. The policy includes coverage for “advertising injury.” Assurance thus agrees to pay those sums that CMS becomes obligated to pay because of advertising injury. The policy also states that Assurance will have no duty to defend CMS against any “suit” seeking damages for “advertising injury” to which the policy does not apply. The policy defines “advertising injury” as injury arising out of “infringement of copyright, title, or slogan.” The policy’s coverage, however, only applies to advertising injury “caused by an offense committed in the course of advertising ... goods, products or services.” It therefore restricts the scope of the coverage by stating that the policy only applies to copyright infringement arising in the course of advertising.
In order to base its claim for coverage on advertising, CMS must take the difficult stance that Assurance’s policy does not require a causal connection between “advertising activities” and “advertising injury.” Instead, according to CMS, there is coverage if any connection, however remote, exists between the advertisement of the houses and the practices that harmed Woodside, even if the advertisements themselves did not cause the harm.
This argument has not met with much favor in other jurisdictions.
See Simply Fresh Fruit, Inc. v. Continental Ins. Co.,
Additionally, even if the evidence that real estate brokers advertised the copyrighted homes is taken into consideration, the advertising injury coverage in the CMS policy does not apply to the copyright infringement alleged in the Woodside complaint. Although it has long been established that persons who advertise an infringing work can be held liable as contributory infringers,
see, e.g., Screen Gems-Columbia Music, Inc. v.
CMS also argues that an insurer must look beyond the words of the complaint to the underlying allegations to determine if a possibility of coverage exists. It contends that because Idaho is a notice pleading state (and therefore only requires a concise statement of the facts constituting the cause of action and a demand for relief,
1
) the complaint must be read broadly to determine if a potential basis for coverage exists. In support of its proposition, CMS cites two federal circuit court of appeals cases.
See Avondale Industries, Inc. v. Travelers Indem. Co.,
These cases, however, also indicate that the insurer may not be required to defend if it can establish that the exclusion contained in the policy is clear and unambiguous. For example, in
Pacific Indem. Co.,
the court noted that “[exclusions from coverage contained in an insurance policy will be effective against an insured if they are clearly worded and conspicuously displayed____”
In this case, CMS’s policy unambiguously states that the coverage only applies to injuries that occur in the “course of advertising.” Thus, even read broadly, there can be no doubt as to whether a theory of recovery within the CMS policy was potentially pled in the Woodside complaint. The complaint does not suggest that CMS violated Wood-side’s copyright through advertising. Rather, the gravamen of Woodside’s complaint is that CMS used the copyrighted plans and drawings to construct houses. There appears no allegation that the copyrighted plans and drawings were used to advertise the homes, nor any suggestion that advertisements or other promotional literature contributed in any way to the infringement of Woodside’s copyright. Indeed, the only reference to advertising found in the complaint is a reference to “marketing” found in the prayer for relief. 2 This reference, however, does not suggest that an “advertising injury” was alleged in the Woodside complaint. Neither does it imply that advertising activities in any way caused the harm. Additionally, the prayer does not request that CMS be enjoined from continuing to market or otherwise advertise the houses. Because the underlying complaint does not allege an advertising injury and the language of the policy unambiguously states that the injury must occur in the “course of advertising,” we conclude that the complaint does not reveal the potential for liability.
CONCLUSION
For the above reasons, we affirm the district court’s summary judgment in favor of
Notes
.
See
I.R.C.P. 8(a);
Clark v. Olsen,
. The prayer for relief states as follows:
a. That [CMS], [its] principals, directors, officers, agents, employees and representatives be enjoined permanently from infringing in any manner [Woodside’s] copyright in the architectural work, "The Belmont,” and from reproducing, publishing, distributing, making derivative works, constructing, selling, marketing or otherwise benefiting in any way from [Wood-side’s] copyrighted work.
