Crystal Ent. & Filmworks Inc. v. Jurado

• Decision Date: 21 June 2011
• Docket Number: No. 10–11837.,10–11837.
• Citation: 643 F.3d 1313,22 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 2212,99 U.S.P.Q.2d 1197
• Parties: CRYSTAL ENTERTAINMENT & FILMWORKS, INC., a Florida corporation, Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks II, Inc., a Florida Corporation, Plaintiffs–Counter Defendants–Appellants,v.Jeanette JURADO, Ann Curless Weiss, Gioia Bruno, Walking Distance Entertainment, LLC, a Nevada Corporation, Defendants–Counter Claimants–Appellees,Kelly Moneymaker, Defendant–Appellee,Paradise Artists, Inc., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

643 F.3d 1313

99 U.S.P.Q.2d 1197

22 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 2212

CRYSTAL ENTERTAINMENT & FILMWORKS, INC., a Florida corporation, Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks II, Inc., a Florida Corporation, Plaintiffs–Counter Defendants–Appellants,

v.Jeanette JURADO, Ann Curless Weiss, Gioia Bruno, Walking Distance Entertainment, LLC, a Nevada Corporation, Defendants–Counter Claimants–Appellees,Kelly Moneymaker, Defendant–Appellee,Paradise Artists, Inc., Defendant.

No. 10–11837.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

June 21, 2011.

Howard N. Kahn, Kahn Chenkin & Resnik, PL, Dania, FL, Robert C. Kain, Jr., Kain & Associates, Darren Joel Spielman, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.Dorothy F. Easley, Easley Appellate Practice, PLLC, Coral Gables, FL, Jon Michael Gibbs, Akerman Senterfitt, Orlando, FL, Lawrence C. Noble, Noble & Associates, Ventura, CA, for Defendants–Appellees.Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.Before PRYOR and COX, Circuit Judges, and PANNELL,^* District Judge.PRYOR, Circuit Judge:

This appeal is from a judgment against an entertainment company that sued the current members of “Exposé,” an American girl dance band, about the trademark name of the band. Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks, Inc., is the purported assignee of the trademark rights of Pantera Group Enterprises and Pantera Productions, Inc., which created the original Exposé band in 1984. The current members of Exposé, Jeanette Jurado, Ann Curless, and Gioia Bruno, replaced the original members of the band in 1986, and the current members, along with Kelly Moneymaker, have produced several albums and intermittently performed as Exposé since then. In 2006, in a written agreement with Crystal, the current members obtained a license to use the Exposé mark when the band resumed performing. Before the agreement expired, the members of the band ceased paying licensing fees to Crystal and informed Crystal that they planned to seek federal registration of the Exposé mark through their own company, Walking Distance Entertainment, LLC. Crystal filed a complaint for breach of contract and violations of federal and state statutes and sought damages and injunctive relief. The district court conducted a bench trial and determined that Jurado, Curless, Bruno, and Walking Distance were the common-law owners of the Exposé mark. Because the record supports the findings by the district court, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks, Inc., and Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks II, Inc., are music and film entertainment businesses based in Miami, Florida. Ismael Garcia and Joe Maenza are the only shareholders of Crystal I and II, and Garcia serves as an officer of both corporations. Garcia and Maenza incorporated Crystal I in 1994 to manage performers and artists, and they incorporated Crystal II in 2003 to manage income from record companies. Garcia and Maenza administratively dissolved Crystal I in 2002 and reinstated it in December 2007.

Garcia has also served as an officer of two other companies, Pantera Group Enterprises and Pantera Productions, Inc., and Crystal asserts that these companies were its predecessors-in-interest. Garcia and Francisco Diaz were the only shareholders of Pantera. They administratively dissolved Pantera Productions in 1991 and Pantera Group in 1994.

In 1984, Pantera formed the American girl dance band “Exposé.” Garcia, Diaz, and Roy Lott from Arista Records created the name. Garcia testified that, as an officer of Pantera, he had “financed the production, the equipment, the offices, everything, the whole show.” Pantera hired Lewis Martineé to write and to produce the songs and lyrics for Exposé, and Martineé received royalties for his efforts.

Exposé originally consisted of three female singers who released a recording of a song entitled “Point of No Return” that was played on radio stations and in dance clubs in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. Exposé also made several live performances, and at least one member of the band purportedly collected royalties, but the likenesses of the members of the band did not appear on any Exposé albums or commercially available recordings. Garcia testified that the original members of Exposé did not enjoy commercial success: “They started with us when [“Point of No Return”] was not popular, so most of the shows that they did were for free. They did a lot of freebies. It didn't make much money.”

In 1986, Jeanette Jurado, Ann Curless (now Ann Curless Weiss), and Gioia Bruno replaced the original members of Exposé and released with Arista Records a debut album entitled Exposure that reached “triple platinum status,” which means that the band sold at least three million copies of the album. The album cover featured photographs of Jurado, Curless, and Bruno. Jurado, Curless, and Bruno did not compose songs or write lyrics for the band, but Bruno testified that they “became the name and the face and the voices of Exposé.” Garcia conceded that the new members of the band have been the “face of Exposé since 1986.” Garcia also testified that the new members “were critical to the look of the image that we wanted, the concept that we wanted to go out with on the road.”

Garcia testified that Pantera hired an attorney to register the Exposé mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but Pantera was denied because, as the attorney informed Pantera, Exposé “was too common a word to protect.” Later, on June 15, 1988, Garcia's recording studio, Charisma Recording, Inc., filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register the Exposé mark on the principal register as a trademark for “clothing, namely, t-shirts” and as a service mark for “entertainment services, namely, live performances by a vocal and instrumental group.” Charisma abandoned the application on November 27, 1989.

Jurado, Curless, and Bruno continued to experience success as the band Exposé. In 1989, Exposé released a second album entitled What You Don't Know that “went gold,” which means that the band sold at least 500,000 copies of the album. The album cover featured Jurado, Curless, and Bruno. In 1992, Kelly Moneymaker temporarily replaced Bruno, and Exposé released a third album entitled Exposé with Moneymaker as a member of the group. This album depicted Jurado, Curless, and Moneymaker as the members of the band. The members of Exposé disbanded in 1995, but sales of their music continued; from 1995 until 2005, Arista Records released five compilation albums of pre-recorded music by Exposé.

Crystal contends that, when it was incorporated, after the Pantera companies were dissolved, Pantera assigned its purported rights to the Exposé mark to Crystal. The exact date of this purported assignment is unclear, as neither Garcia nor his attorney could locate the assignment agreement because, as Garcia explained, it was “a 15[-]year[-]old agreement” and his attorney had “moved three times.” Garcia also testified that, as a result of the assignment, Arista Records paid royalties to Crystal after the Pantera companies were administratively dissolved. The only evidence in the record of this assignment is Garcia's testimony and a Nunc Pro Tunc Trademark Assignment prepared by Garcia's counsel and signed by Garcia after Crystal filed its initial complaint in this dispute. The 2007 Trademark Assignment purports to assign rights to the Exposé mark from Pantera to Crystal, and it makes no mention of any prior assignment. Based on this purported assignment, Crystal I claims ownership of the Exposé mark, which is its only asset, and Crystal II claims rights to royalties from the use of the Exposé mark, which is its only source of income.

Jurado, Curless, Bruno, and Moneymaker signed several agreements with Pantera and Crystal about their use of the Exposé mark. In May 1995, for example, Jurado, Curless, and Moneymaker purportedly agreed to execute a release and settlement agreement that absolved them of various obligations that they had owed to Pantera. Only Jurado's signature appears on the agreement, which also provided that Pantera and Charisma had conceived of and owned the Exposé mark, and that Jurado, Curless, and Moneymaker would no longer have the right to use the mark. From May 1995 until August 2003, Crystal was not involved with a band that performed live as Exposé. Garcia testified that he had been unable to assemble another band to perform under that name.

In August 2003, Jurado and Curless executed a trademark and licensing agreement with Crystal I because they wanted to resume performing as Exposé. In the 2003 Agreement, the two singers acknowledged that Crystal I owned the Exposé mark exclusively and controlled its use. The two singers cancelled a tour of performances after one show because Curless had become pregnant.

Jurado, Curless, and Bruno executed a second trademark and licensing agreement with Crystal I in 2006 in anticipation of another tour. In the 2006 Agreement, the three singers acknowledged that Crystal I owned and controlled the Exposé mark. The 2006 Agreement gave Jurado, Curless, and Bruno the discretion to decide when Moneymaker would serve as a replacement. Jurado, Curless, and Bruno selected Paradise Artists, Inc., as their booking agent to schedule their tour dates, and Crystal approved this selection. Without the consent of Crystal, Jurado, Curless, and Bruno advertised the tour on the Internet at two web addresses: “exposeonline.net” and “myspace.com/exposeonline.”

In 2007, the relationship between the band members and Crystal reached a “Point of No Return.” See Exposé, Point of No Return, on Exposure (Arista Records 1987). Jurado, Curless, and Bruno tired of paying licensing fees to Crystal because Crystal had not promoted or scheduled any performances of Exposé under the 2006 Agreement. Bruno and Jurado testified that they, along with Curless, had directed and controlled...