Top 10 Federal Copyright Cases for the Month of June 2010

1. Close-Up Int'l, Inc. v. Berov, No. 07-5230-cv, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 13208, June 29, 2010, Decided,  PLEASE REFER TO FEDERAL RULES OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE RULE 32.1 GOVERNING THE CITATION TO UNPUBLISHED OPINIONS.

OVERVIEW:  Entry of judgment for plaintiffs in copyright infringement case was upheld as, inter alia, Certificate of Authority was not new contract extending copyright license, as it was issued pursuant to contract between parties; did not address consideration, licensing rate, or obligations of the parties; and did not show mutual assent to terms of license.

CORE TERMS:  summary judgment, certificate, willfulness, license, chain of custody, credibility, licensing, contract law, credibility determinations, essential terms ...

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2. Recording Indus. Ass'n of Am. v. Librarian of Cong., No. 09-1075 Consolidated with 09-1205, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12740, March 12, 2010, Argued, June 22, 2010, Decided

OVERVIEW:  Copyright Royalty Board's decision, pursuant to 17 U.S.C.S. § 115, imposing a 1.5 percent per month late fee for late royalty payments and two new royalty rates for cell phone ringtones was not arbitrary and capricious, as the Board weighed costs and benefits of the parties' proposals and appropriately took relevant market practices into account.

CORE TERMS:  royalty, late fee, ringtone, license, penny-rate, licensee, musical, Copyright Act, percentage-of-revenue, copyrighted ...

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3. Golan v. Holder, Nos. 09-1234 & 09-1261, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12641, June 21, 2010, Filed

OVERVIEW:  Where the appropriate level of constitutional scrutiny to be applied to the restrictions on speech in 17 U.S.C.S. § 104A was intermediate, and the imposition of foreign copyrights furthered an important interest, the statute did not burden speech more than necessary, and it was constitutional under the First Amendment and the Copyright Clause.

CORE TERMS:  public domain, conventions, content-neutral, restoration, quotation, holders, government's interest, citation omitted, intermediate, deference ...

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4. United States v. Coleman, No. 09-30545, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12349, June 16, 2010, Filed

OVERVIEW:  Defendant's conviction of conspiracy to pirate encrypted satellite signals and infringe a copyright under 18 U.S.C. § 371 did not fall within the exception for offenses relating to the regulation of business practices and served as a valid predicate offense to support a felon in possession of a firearm charge under 18 U.S.C.S. § 922(g)(1).

CORE TERMS:  business practices, conspiracy, firearm, predicate offense, conspiracy conviction, target offenses, stalking, unfair, antitrust violations, trade practices ...

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5. Penguin Group (USA) Inc. v. Am. Buddha, Docket No. 09-1739-cv, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12162, January 7, 2010, Argued, June 15, 2010, Question Certified

OVERVIEW:  A New York court's personal jurisdiction, under N.Y. C.P.L.R. 302(a)(3)(ii), over an out-of-state library for uploading a New York publisher's copyrighted material to the internet from out-of-state servers was certified to the New York Court of Appeals because whether the alleged injury occurred in New York was an undecided issue of New York law.

CORE TERMS:  situs, personal jurisdiction, intellectual property, infringement, long-arm, infringing, copyright infringement, certification, tortious act, online ...

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6. Benay v. Warner Bros. Entm't, Inc., No. 08-55719, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11707; Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P29,934, October 8, 2009, Argued and Submitted, Pasadena, California, June 9, 2010, Filed

OVERVIEW:  Summary judgment on copyright infringement claim was affirmed because the protectable elements, including plot, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, and sequence of events, exposed many more differences than similarities between the screenplay and the film and the similarities were largely between unprotected elements.

CORE TERMS:  screenplay, film, similarity, samurai, protagonist, implied-in-fact, summary judgment, contract claims, scene, copyright law ...

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7. Fharmacy Records v. Nassar, Case Nos. 08-1607 & 08-2201, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT,  10a0341n.06;, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11626; 2010 FED App. 0341N (6th Cir.), June 7, 2010, Filed,  NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION. SIXTH CIRCUIT RULE 28 LIMITS CITATION TO SPECIFIC SITUATIONS. PLEASE SEE RULE 28 BEFORE CITING IN A PROCEEDING IN A COURT IN THE SIXTH CIRCUIT. IF CITED, A COPY MUST BE SERVED ON OTHER PARTIES AND THE COURT. THIS NOTICE IS TO BE PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED IF THIS DECISION IS REPRODUCED.

OVERVIEW:  Plaintiffs' copyright infringement action was properly dismissed as a discovery sanction based on the district court's inherent authority because plaintiffs and counsel made numerous false statements, destroyed or hid evidence, fabricated evidence, suborned perjury, and generally abused the legal process.

CORE TERMS:  beat, authenticity, promised, discovery, tape, declaration, discovery abuses, bad faith, lesser sanctions, recording ...

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8. Lahiri v. Universal Music & Video Distrib. Corp., No. 09-55111, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT, 606 F.3d 1216; 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11504; Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P29,931, April 9, 2010, Argued and Submitted, Pasadena, California, June 7, 2010,

OVERVIEW:  Alleged infringers were properly awarded fees and costs under 28 U.S.C.S. § 1927 and under a district court's inherent sanctioning power where clear and convincing evidence showed that an attorney who specialized in copyright law acted recklessly and in bad faith by pursuing a copyright claim on behalf of a composer who created a song for hire.

CORE TERMS:  bad faith, film, summary judgment, hire, Lanham Act, copyright infringement, ownership, imposition of sanctions, abuse of discretion, music ...

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9. Mon Cheri Bridals, Inc. v. Wen Wu, Nos. 09-1239 and 09-1321, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11378; Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P29,933, April 14, 2010, Argued, June 4, 2010, Filed,  NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION UNDER THIRD CIRCUIT INTERNAL OPERATING PROCEDURE RULE 5.7. SUCH OPINIONS ARE NOT REGARDED AS PRECEDENTS WHICH BIND THE COURT. PLEASE REFER TO FEDERAL RULES OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE RULE 32.1 GOVERNING THE CITATION TO UNPUBLISHED OPINIONS.

OVERVIEW:  The trial court properly vacated the punitive damages award for a passing-off claim. Defendants' reprehensible conduct was limited to their dealings with the company that brought suit, and the evidence of their involvement consisted of their agent's attempt to pass of the dresses in question, which was too attenuated to support punitive damages.

CORE TERMS:  dress, embroidery, copyright infringement, new trial, bead, jury instructions, punitive damages, discovery, attorneys' fees, registration ...

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10. Thomsen v. Famous Dave's of Am., Inc., No. 09-2555, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT, 606 F.3d 905; 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11360; 94 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1879; Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P29,932, May 12, 2010, Submitted, June 4, 2010, Filed

OVERVIEW:  A license holder was properly denied recovery in his lawsuit alleging breach of a settlement agreement regarding certain copyrighted work performed in designing signs for a certain restaurant because the parties had executed a settlement agreement wherein the holder unambiguously conveyed to the restaurant all of the contested copyrights.

CORE TERMS:  restaurant, signature, ownership, proprietary, summary judgment, releasing, disputed, settlement agreement, infringement, decor ...

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