Forest Park Pictures v. Universal Television Network, Inc.

• Decision Date: 26 June 2012
• Docket Number: Docket No. 11–2011–cv.
• Citation: 103 U.S.P.Q.2d 1122,2012 Copr.L.Dec. P 30275,40 Media L. Rep. 1985,683 F.3d 424
• Parties: FOREST PARK PICTURES, Tove Christensen, and Hayden Christensen, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. UNIVERSAL TELEVISION NETWORK, INC., Defendant–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

683 F.3d 424

2012 Copr.L.Dec. P 30,275

103 U.S.P.Q.2d 1122

40 Media L. Rep. 1985

FOREST PARK PICTURES, Tove Christensen, and Hayden Christensen, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.UNIVERSAL TELEVISION NETWORK, INC., Defendant–Appellee.

Docket No. 11–2011–cv.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: Nov. 14, 2011.

Decided: June 26, 2012.

David Marek (James W. Halter, on the brief), Liddle & Robinson, L.L.P., New York, NY, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.

Susan Weiner, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, New York, NY (Robert Penchina and Amanda M. Leith, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, L.L.P., New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendant–Appellee.

Before: WALKER, RAGGI and LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges.

JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Circuit Judge:

This dispute over the concept for a television show presents the question of the extent to which the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., preempts contract claims involving copyrightable property. Plaintiffs–Appellants Forest Park Pictures, Hayden Christensen, and Tove Christensen (collectively, “Forest Park”) developed an idea for a television series and created a writing that embodied it, known in the industry as a “series treatment.” Forest Park submitted its idea, first by mail and then in person, to Defendant–Appellee USA Network, a division of Universal Television Network, Inc. (“USA Network”). Forest Park alleges an implied promise by USA Network to pay reasonable compensation if the idea were used. The District Court for the Southern District of New York (Colleen McMahon, Judge) held that the Copyright Act preempted a breach of contract claim based on idea submission, and granted USA Network's motion to dismiss. We reach a different conclusion. Forest Park adequately alleged the breach of a contract that included an implied promise to pay. Because this claim is based on rights that are not the equivalent of those protected by the Copyright Act, it is not preempted.

BACKGROUNDFacts

Because Forest Park appeals from an order dismissing the complaint on the pleadings, we accept as true the facts alleged in the Third Amended Complaint (“Complaint”). See Hutchison v. Deutsche Bank Sec. Inc., 647 F.3d 479, 481 (2d Cir.2011). In 2005, Forest Park formulated a concept for a television show called “Housecall,” in which a doctor, after being expelled from the medical community for treating patients who could not pay, moved to Malibu, California, and became a “concierge” doctor to the rich and famous. Forest Park created a written series treatment for the idea, including character biographies, themes, and storylines. It mailed this written material to Alex Sepiol, who worked for USA Network.

After sending the written materials, Forest Park requested a meeting between its representatives and Sepiol. Sepiol scheduled the meeting “for the express purpose of hearing Plaintiffs pitch” their show. Complaint ¶ 12. At the time, Sepiol and USA Network knew “that writer-creat[o]rs pitch creative ideas to prospective purchasers with the object of selling those ideas for compensation” and “that it was standard in the entertainment industry for ideas to be pitched with the expectation of compensation in the event of use.” Id. ¶ 9. And, at the meeting, “[i]t was understood that Plaintiffs were pitching those ideas with the object of persuading USA Network to purchase those ideas for commercial development.” Id. ¶ 13. Sepiol said that prior to hearing the idea for “Housecall,” he had never heard of “concierge” doctors, or doctors who make house calls for wealthy patients, and “thought it was a fascinating concept for a television show.” Id. ¶ 15. Over the course of the following week, Sepiol and Forest Park exchanged further communications; however, discussions soon ceased and no further contact between the parties ensued.

A little less than four years later, USA Network produced and aired a television show called “Royal Pains,” in which a doctor, after being expelled from the medical community for treating patients who could not pay, became a concierge doctor to the rich and famous in the Hamptons. Forest Park had no prior knowledge of “Royal Pains,” did not consent to its production, and received no compensation from USA Network for the use of its idea for the show.

Prior Proceedings

Forest Park Pictures, located in California, and the Christensens, residents of California and Toronto, Canada, brought a diversity action against USA Network and Universal Television Network, a New York corporation, for breach of contract. USA Network moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss the Complaint on the grounds that the Copyright Act preempted the claim and that the contract was too vague to be enforced. The district court held the claim preempted and dismissed the Complaint without addressing the vagueness argument. Forest Park Pictures v. Universal Television Network, Inc., No. 10 Civ. 5168(CM), 2011 WL 1792587, at *3, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50081, at *9 (S.D.N.Y. May 10, 2011). Forest Park timely appealed the dismissal.

DISCUSSION

This appeal presents two questions: first, whether Forest Park's breach of implied contract claim is preempted by the Copyright Act; and second, if such a claim is not preempted, whether Forest Park adequately pleaded a claim under state law. We hold that Forest Park's claim is not preempted and that the Complaint pleads an enforceable contract under state law that survives a motion to dismiss.

We review de novo a district court's dismissal of a complaint under Rule 12(b)(6), accepting all of the complaint's factual allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs' favor. Interpharm, Inc. v. Wells Fargo Bank, Nat'l Ass'n, 655 F.3d 136, 141 (2d Cir.2011). The complaint must state a claim that is plausible on its face. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). A claim has “facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

I. Preemption

We first turn to USA Network's argument that Forest Park's claim is preempted. Section 301 of the Copyright Act expressly preempts a state law claim only if (i) the work at issue “come[s] within the subject matter of copyright” and (ii) the right being asserted is “equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright.” 17 U.S.C. § 301(b); see Barclays Capital Inc. v. Theflyonthewall.com, Inc., 650 F.3d 876, 892 (2d Cir.2011).

A. Subject Matter Requirement

In order to be preempted, a claim must involve a work “within the subject matter of copyright.” 17 U.S.C. § 301(a). Copyright protection exists for “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression,” but does not extend to an “idea, ... regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied.” 17 U.S.C. § 102(a), (b). We have held, however, that works may fall within the subject matter of copyright, and thus be subject to preemption, even if they contain material that is uncopyrightable under section 102. See Barclays Capital, 650 F.3d at 892;Nat'l Basketball Ass'n v. Motorola, Inc. (“ NBA ”), 105 F.3d 841, 849 (2d Cir.1997); Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 723 F.2d 195, 200 (2d Cir.1983), rev'd on other grounds,471 U.S. 539, 105 S.Ct. 2218, 85 L.Ed.2d 588 (1985). See generally 4 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright § 19D.03[A][2][b] (2011). In Harper & Row, for example, the work at issue, President Ford's memoirs, contained uncopyrightable facts. 723 F.2d at 200. Nevertheless, we held that the factual content of the book did not remove the work as a whole (indisputably a literary work of authorship, see§ 102(a)(1)) from the subject matter of copyright. Harper & Row, 723 F.2d at 200;see also Barclays Capital, 650 F.3d at 892, 902. Similarly, in Briarpatch Ltd. v. Phoenix Pictures, Inc., 373 F.3d 296 (2d Cir.2004), we held that a novel fell within “the broad ambit of the subject matter categories” listed in section 102(a) despite containing uncopyrightable ideas. Id. at 306. The scope of copyright for preemption purposes, then, extends beyondthe scope of available copyright protection.

The reason for our broad interpretation of the scope of copyright preemption is that Congress, in enacting section 301, created a regime in which some types of works are copyrightable and others fall into the public domain. See NBA, 105 F.3d at 849. In preempting certain state causes of action, Congress deprived the states of the power to “vest exclusive rights in material that Congress intended to be in the public domain.” Id.; see also Harper & Row, 723 F.2d at 200 (recognizing that it would “run directly afoul of one of the Act's central purposes” to allow the states to expand copyright protection to works Congress deemed uncopyrightable). Section 301's preemption scheme functions properly only if the “ ‘subject matter of copyright’ includes all works of a type covered by sections 102 and 103, even if federal law does not afford protection to them.” NBA, 105 F.3d at 850 (quoting ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg, 86 F.3d 1447, 1453 (7th Cir.1996)).

The work at issue in this case is Forest Park's idea for “Housecall,” manifested in the series treatment (comprising character biographies, themes, and storylines). This treatment and associated written materials are “works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium.” 17 U.S.C. § 301(a). Although Forest Park's Complaint does not allege that USA Network took its actual scripts or biographies, the subject matter requirement is met because the Complaint alleges that USA Network used the ideas embodied in those written works. That the work contains within it some uncopyrightable ideas does not remove it from the subject matter of copyright. See Briarpatch, 373 F.3d at...