Brownmark Films, LLC v. Partners

• Decision Date: 07 June 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11–2620.,11–2620.
• Citation: 40 Media L. Rep. 1821,682 F.3d 687,2012 Copr.L.Dec. P 30270,102 U.S.P.Q.2d 1974
• Parties: BROWNMARK FILMS, LLC, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. COMEDY PARTNERS, et al., Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

682 F.3d 687

2012 Copr.L.Dec. P 30,270

102 U.S.P.Q.2d 1974

40 Media L. Rep. 1821

BROWNMARK FILMS, LLC, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.COMEDY PARTNERS, et al., Defendants–Appellees.

No. 11–2620.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 17, 2012.

Decided June 7, 2012.

Garet K. Galster, Caz McChrystal, Joseph A. Kromholz, Ryan Kromholz & Manion, Milwaukee, WI, for Plaintiff–Appellant.

Alonzo B. Wickers, IV, Jeff Glasser, Dan Laidman, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Defendants–Appellees.

Julie P. Samuels, Corynne McSherry, Michael Barclay, San Francisco, CA, for amicus curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and CUDAHY and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

This is a case about how a court may dispose of a copyright infringement action based on the fair use affirmative defense while avoiding the burdens of discovery and trial. This case also poses the interesting question of whether the incorporation-by-reference doctrine applies to audio-visual works.

South Park is a popular animated television show intended for mature audiences. The show centers on the adventures of foul-mouthed fourth graders in the small town of South Park, Colorado. It is notorious for its distinct animation style and scatological humor. The show frequently provides commentary on current events and pop-culture through parody and satire. Previous episodes have dealt with the Florida Recount, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and the phenomenon of celebrity sex tapes.

This case involves one episode entitled “Canada On Strike,” which satirized the 2007–2008 Writers' Guild of America strike, inexplicably popular viral videos and the difficulty of monetizing Internet fame. In the episode, the nation of Canada goes on strike, demanding a share of the “Internet money” they believe is being generated by viral videos and other online content. The South Park Elementary school boys—Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Butters—decide to create a viral video in order to accrue enough “Internet money” to buy off the striking Canadians. The boys create a video, “What What (In The Butt),” (WWITB) in which Butters sings a paean to anal sex. Within the show, the video is a huge hit, but the boys are only able to earn “theoretical dollars.”

This video is a parody of a real world viral video of the same name, featuring an adult male singing and dancing in tight pants. The two versions of WWITB are very similar. The South Park version recreates a large portion of the original version, using the same angles, framing, dance moves and visual elements. However, the South Park version stars Butters, a naïve nine-year old, in a variety of costumes drawing attention to his innocence: at various points he is dressed as a teddy bear, an astronaut and a daisy.

Brownmark Films, LLC (Brownmark), the copyright holder for the original WWITB video, filed suit against South Park Digital Studios (SPDS) and others for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. Brownmark's complaint referenced both versions of WWITB, but it did not attach either work to the complaint. SPDS responded claiming the South Park version was clearly fair use under § 107, attached the two works and moved for dismissal for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Brownmark did not address the substance of SPDS's fair use defense, but instead argued that the court could not consider fair use on a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. The district court concluded that “[o]ne only needs to take a fleeting glance at the South Park episode” to determine that its use of the WWITB video is meant “to lampoon the recent craze in our society of watching video clips on the internet ... of rather low artistic sophistication and quality”—in other words, fair use. The court granted SPDS's motion to dismiss based on the fair use affirmative defense.

Brownmark appeals, arguing that an unpleaded affirmative defense of fair use is an improper basis for granting a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), and that in any event, SPDS's WWITB video is not a fair use of the original WWITB video. We hold that the district court could properly decide fair use on SPDS's motion, and we affirm the district court's finding of fair use.

I.

Brownmark correctly notes that courts should usually refrain from granting Rule 12(b)(6) motions on affirmative defenses. United States v. Lewis, 411 F.3d 838, 842 (7th Cir.2005). Rule 12(b)(6) tests whether the complaint states a claim for relief, and a plaintiff may state a claim even though there is a defense to that claim. The mere presence of a potential affirmative defense does not render the claim for relief invalid. Further, these defenses typically turn on facts not before the court at that stage in the proceedings. But when all relevant facts are presented, the court may properly dismiss a case before discovery—typically through a Rule 12(c) Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings ¹—on the basis of an affirmative defense. See id.; Brooks v. Ross, 578 F.3d 574, 579 (7th Cir.2009) (approving of granting motions to dismiss based on the statute of limitations when “the relevant dates [that establish the defense] are set forth unambiguously in the complaint.”).

Despite Brownmark's assertions to the contrary, the only two pieces of evidence needed to decide the question of fair use in this case are the original version of WWITB and the episode at issue. Brownmark's copyright infringement claim in its amended complaint was limited to the distribution of one episode on television, South Park's website, iTunes and Amazon.com, and DVD and Blu–Ray discs of “South Park Season 12 (Uncensored).” Because the claim was limited to the production and distribution of a single episode, the district court was correct to rely solely on the two expressive works referenced in Brownmark's amended complaint and attached to SPDS's motion, as well as the allegations in the complaint, to decide on the fair use defense.

SPDS relies on the incorporation-by-reference doctrine to maintain that reliance on the attached works does not violate Rule 12(d), which requires that Rule 12(b)(6) or 12(c) motions containing materials outside of the pleadings be converted into motions for summary judgment. It is well settled that in deciding a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court may consider “documents attached to a motion to dismiss ... if they are referred to in the plaintiff's complaint and are central to his claim.” Wright v. Assoc. Ins. Cos. Inc., 29 F.3d 1244, 1248 (7th Cir.1994). In effect, the incorporation-by-reference doctrine provides that if a plaintiff mentions a document in his complaint, the defendant may then submit the document to the court without converting defendant's 12(b)(6) motion to a motion for summary judgment. The doctrine prevents a plaintiff from “evad[ing] dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) simply by failing to attach to his complaint a document that prove[s] his claim has no merit.” Tierney v. Vahle, 304 F.3d 734, 738 (7th Cir.2002).

While the application of this doctrine to the present case would seem to allow SPDS's action, no court of appeals has ruled that the content of television programs and similar works may be incorporated by reference. Several district courts have concluded that the doctrine does apply to such works. See, e.g., Burnett v. Twentieth Century Fox, 491 F.Supp.2d 962, 966 (C.D.Cal.2007); Zella v. E.W. Scripps Co., 529 F.Supp.2d 1124, 1131–32 (C.D.Cal.2007); Daly v. Viacom, 238 F.Supp.2d 1118, 1121–22 (N.D.Cal.2002). And we think it makes eminently good sense to extend the doctrine to cover such works, especially in light of technological changes that have occasioned widespread production of audio-visual works. The parties, however, did not brief this issue, and so we reserve the resolution of the question for a later date.

II.

Following the recent trend of heightened pleading standards, as in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), SPDS argues that we should encourage courts to consider affirmative defenses on 12(b)(6) motions and thereby reduce the threat of nuisance suits. We are sympathetic to the goal of curtailing nuisance suits, but we feel that there is no need to enlarge the role of 12(b)(6) motions, as there are already two other rules that address the situation of dismissing baseless suits before discovery: Rule 12(c) Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and Rule 56 Motion for Summary Judgment. Had SPDS's motion been captioned as a motion for summary judgment, the district court would have employed procedure essentially identical to procedure following a 12(b)(6) motion.

It appears SPDS's reason for relying on the incorporation-by-reference doctrine for its motion to dismiss, rather than simply captioning its motion as a motion for summary judgment, was its concern that such a maneuver would open the door to discovery. The expense of discovery, which SPDS stressed at oral argument, looms over this suit. SPDS, and amicus, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, remind this court that infringement suits are often baseless shakedowns. Ruinous discovery heightens the incentive to settle rather than defend these frivolous suits. But discovery would only follow a Rule 56 motion if the district court granted a request for discovery. District courts need not, and indeed ought not, allow discovery when it is clear that the case turns on facts already in evidence.

In this case, Brownmark did not request discovery. Brownmark claims that it could not, as the matter before the court was a 12(b)(6) motion, which does not allow for discovery requests. But this is hard to believe. The caption on a motion does not have some independent authority that litigants or courts must respect. Rather than relying on the notion that consideration of a fair use defense in the context of...