Brown v. Ames

• Citation: 201 F.3d 654
• Decision Date: 07 February 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-20736,98-20736
• Parties: (5th Cir. 2000) LEONARD BROWN; ET AL., Plantiffs, LEONARD BROWN; WALTER PRICE; PETE MAYES; JAMES NELSON; CLARENCE PARKER; LEE J. FRAZIER, also known as Skipper Lee Frazier; JOE HUGHES, also known as Joe "Guitar" Hughes; RAYFIELD JACKSON, also known as Houston Guitar Slim; FREDDIE COLLINS, also known as Big Roger Collins; ALFRED R. BETTIS; FALIETA GREEN; THOMAS DARDAR, formerly known as Tommy Dardar, presently known as; DEBRA L. NICKERSON; WELDON BONNER, presently known as Juke Boy Bonner; LIZETTE COBB; ARNETT COBB; KINNEY ABAIR, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. ROY C. AMES, Etc.; ET AL., Defendants, ROY C. AMES, doing business as Clarity Music & Home Cooking Records, Defendant-Appellant COLLECTIBLES INC., doing business as Collectibles Records, Movant-Appellant
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 654

201 F.3d 654 (5th Cir. 2000)

LEONARD BROWN; ET AL., Plantiffs, LEONARD BROWN; WALTER PRICE; PETE MAYES; JAMES NELSON; CLARENCE PARKER; LEE J. FRAZIER, also known as Skipper Lee Frazier; JOE HUGHES, also known as Joe "Guitar" Hughes; RAYFIELD JACKSON, also known as Houston Guitar Slim; FREDDIE COLLINS, also known as Big Roger Collins; ALFRED R. BETTIS; FALIETA GREEN; THOMAS DARDAR, formerly known as Tommy Dardar, presently known as; DEBRA L. NICKERSON; WELDON BONNER, presently known as Juke Boy Bonner; LIZETTE COBB; ARNETT COBB; KINNEY ABAIR, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. ROY C. AMES, Etc.; ET AL., Defendants, ROY C. AMES, doing business as Clarity Music & Home Cooking Records, Defendant-Appellant

COLLECTIBLES INC., doing business as Collectibles Records, Movant-Appellant.

No. 98-20736

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FIFTH CIRCUIT

February 7, 2000

Rehearing Denied March 23, 2000.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas

Before JONES and DENNIS, Circuit Judges, and PRADO¹, District Judge.

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

Appellants Collectibles and Ames principally appeal the district court's determination that appellees' state law claims for violation of their rights of publicity are not preempted by the Copyright Act. The misappropriation consisted of appellants' unauthorized use of appellees' names and likenesses to market appellees' musical performances on CD's and audio cassettes for which appellants also lacked copyrights. Because a person's name and likeness in themselves are not copyrightable, and because the state law tort for misappropriation does not conflict with federal copyright law, appellees' claims are not preempted. As the other issues raised on appeal lack merit, the judgment is affirmed.

I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Collectibles is a record label that distributes and sells music recordings, especially repackaged vintage recordings. Ames is a music producer specializing in Texas blues. Appellees are individual blues musicians, songwriters, music producers or heirs of such.

Around 1990, Ames, d/b/a Home Cooking Records, licensed to Collectibles for commercial exploitation master recordings that included performances by appellees. The written license agreements also purported to give Collectibles the right to use the names, photographs, likenesses and biographical material of all those whose performances were on the master recordings. Ames represented and warranted to Collectibles that Ames was entitled to convey these rights. Using the master recordings, Collectibles manufactured and distributed cassettes and CD's, as well as music catalogs, with the names and sometimes the likenesses of the performers on or in them. In addition, Ames, but not Collectibles, sold posters or videotapes with the names or likenesses of the plaintiffs.

In 1994, appellees sued Ames, Collectibles and Jerry and Nina Greene, the owners of Collectibles. Before trial, the district court dismissed appellees' negligence and conversion claims as preempted by the Copyright Act, and dismissed without prejudice the copyright claims of those appellees who had not timely obtained registration certificates. Appellees' actions for copyright infringement, violations of the Lanham Act and for misappropriation of name or likeness under Texas state law proceeded to a jury trial. At the close of appellees' case, the Court granted judgment as matter of law for defendants Jerry and Nina Greene, and the jury found in favor of all defendants on the Lanham Act claims. These rulings have not been appealed.

The jury also found that the defendants had misappropriated the names and likenesses of the appellees and had infringed (in the case of Collectibles, innocently) copyrights held by some of the appellees. Finally, the jury found that Weldon Bonner had not executed a Recording Agreement with Roy Ames. The jury awarded the appellees misappropriation damages of $127,000--$100,000 from Ames and $27,000 from Collectibles. In its final judgment of August 3, 1998, the court held Collectibles liable for $1,800 for copyright infringement and for $27,000 for misappropriation and Ames liable for $22,500 for copyright infringement and for $100,000 for misappropriation.

Collectibles and Ames have appealed on several grounds. First, they assert that the Copyright Act preempts the misappropriation claims. Second, they assert that the district court should have enforced the allegedly notarized January 1975 Recording Agreement between Ames and Weldon Bonner, notwithstanding the jury verdict that Bonner did not sign it, and that the district court incorrectly instructed the jury on the burden of proof. Third, they claim that the district court improperly awarded a copyright to Leonard Brown for "Ain't Got Much" because his wife wrote the song and he lacked a written assignment from her. Finally, Collectibles, but not Ames, asserts that the plaintiffs did not present legally sufficient evidence to support the misappropriation damages award.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Preemption

This Court reviews a district court's conclusions of law de novo. See Pebble Beach Co. v. Tour 18 I Ltd., 155 F.3d 526, 537 (5th Cir. 1998).

The Copyright Act provides that:

On or after January 1, 1978, all legal and equitable rights that are equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright as specified by section 106 in works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression and come within the subject matter of copyright as specified by sections 102 and 103, whether created before or after that date and whether published or unpublished, are governed exclusively by this title. . . .

17 U.S.C. 301(a). Section 301 requires the fulfillment of two conditions. First, the content of the protected right must fall in the subject matter of copyright. Second, the nature of the rights granted under state law must be equivalent to any of the exclusive rights in the general scope of a federal copyright. See Daboub v. Gibbons, 42 F.3d 285, 289 (5th Cir. 1995); see also 1 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright 1.01[B] (1999).

In Texas, the tort of misappropriation provides protection from the unauthorized appropriation of one's name, image or likeness. See Moore v. Big Picture Co., 828 F.2d 270, 275 (5th Cir. 1987). It is best understood as a species of the right of publicity or of privacy. See id. To prevail, a plaintiff must prove that (1) the defendant misappropriated the plaintiff's name or likeness for the value associated with it and not in an incidental manner or for a newsworthy purpose; (2) the plaintiff can be identified from the publication; and (3) the defendant derived some advantage or benefit. See Matthews v. Wozencraft, 15 F.3d 432, 437 (5th Cir. 1994).

Appellants argue strenuously that appellees have not presented an independent action for misappropriation. Because appellees' names and/or likenesses were used to identify their musical works in Collectibles' CD's, tapes and catalogs, appellants assert that the core of the misappropriation and copyright infringement claims is the same, compelling preemption under section 301 of the misappropriation claims.

Appellants' argument ignores, however, that the content of the right protected by the misappropriation tort does not fall into the subject matter of copyright, as section 301 requires. As the district court correctly recognized, the tort for misappropriation of name or likeness protects "the interest of the individual in the exclusive use of his own identity, in so far as it is represented by his name or likeness, and in so far as the use may be of benefit to him or to others." Restatement (Second) of Torts 652C (1977). In other words, the tort of misappropriation of name or likeness protects a person's persona. A persona does not fall within the subject matter of copyright - it does not consist of "a 'writing' of an 'author' within the meaning of the Copyright Clause of the Constitution." Nimmer, supra, 1.01[B][1][c]; Jarvis v. A&M Records, 827 F.Supp. 282, 297 (D.N.J. 1993); Bi-Rite Enterprises, Inc. v. Button Master, 555 F.Supp. 1188, 1201 (S.D.N.Y. 1983); Apigram Publishing Co. v. Factors, Etc., Inc., 1980 WL 2047 (N.D.Ohio July 30, 1980)(available on WESTLAW); Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, 25 Cal.3d 813, 849 (1979)(Bird, C.J., dissenting). Furthermore, contrary to appellants' implications, appellees' names and likenesses do not become copyrightable simply because they are used to identify the source of a copyrighted work. Therefore, their misappropriation claims do not fit the terms of 301 preemption.

Given the fact that a name or likeness is not copyrightable, appellants' reliance on Daboub is unavailing. In Daboub, the plaintiffs alleged that ZZ Top had both infringed their copyright in and misappropriated one of their songs, and this Court held that section 301 of the Copyright Act preempted the state law misappropriation claim. See Daboub, 42 F.3d at 287, 290. The crucial difference between the two cases is that in Daboub the basis of the misappropriation claim, as well as the copyright infringement claim, was the song itself, bringing it within section 301's ambit, whereas here the basis of the misappropriation claim was defendants' use of plaintiffs' names and/or likenesses.

The appellants also cite Fleet v. CBS, Inc., 58 Cal.Rptr.2d 645 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996), which, although more similar, shares the same factual difference. In Fleet, plaintiffs were actors in a copyrighted film who alleged that the exploitation of the copyrighted work itself infringed their state right of publicity. See id. at 647. They complained not only about the showing of the film, but also about the use of pictures from the film for advertising. See id. Because the individual performances in the film were copyrightable, the court held their claims preempted by federal copyright law. See id. at 650. Thus, Fleet, like Daboub,...