American Dental Association v. Delta Dental Plans Association 126 F.3d 977 (7th Cir. 1997) The ADA published a book that contained a taxonomy of different dental procedures (aka the Code). Basically, they came up with a system where they gave every dental procedure (root canals, filling cavities) a different number. That made it easy to do data entry and keep computer records. Delta published a book that contained blank forms dentists could use for their records, as well as most of the Code that the ADA first created. The ADA sued Delta for copyright infringement. Delta argued that taxonomy and nomenclature was not copyrightable. The Trial Court found for Delta. The ADA appealed. The Trial Court found that the Code cannot be copyrighted because it just catalogs a field of knowledge. Basically, the Court found that taxonomy may not be copyrighted. See 17 U.S.C. §102(b). The Appellate Court reversed. The Appellate Court looked to Baker v. Selden (101 U.S. 99 (1879)) which found that a copyright did not give an author the right to prevent others from using the same method. Therefore, the ADA couldn't stop dentists from using the ADA Code in their forms and records, or stop Delta from distributing forms that invited dentists to use the ADA's Code. However, the Court found that it was a violation of the ADA's copyright for Delta to distribute a copy of the code itself.