Dryer v. Nat'l Football League

• Decision Date: 26 February 2016
• Docket Number: No. 14–3428.,14–3428.
• Citation: 814 F.3d 938
• Parties: John Frederick DRYER, Elvin Lamont Bethea, and Edward Alvin White, Plaintiffs–Appellants v. The NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, Defendant–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

814 F.3d 938

John Frederick DRYER, Elvin Lamont Bethea, and Edward Alvin White, Plaintiffs–Appellants

v.The NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, Defendant–Appellee.

No. 14–3428.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Oct. 22, 2015.

Filed: Feb. 26, 2016.

Michael Vincent Ciresi, argued, Minneapolis, MN (Eric John Magnuson, Jeffrey Sullivan Gleason, Emily W. Cowing, William Bornstein, Minneapolis, MN., Bob Stein, Eden Prairie, MN., and Thomas J. Ward, Washington, DC, on the brief) for Plaintiffs–Appellants.

Paul D. Clement, argued, Washington, DC (Aaron Daniel Van Oort, Daniel J. Connolly, Peter C. Magnuson, Minneapolis, MN., Bruce P. Keller, New York, N.Y. and Michael Schaper, of New York, NY, on the brief) for Defendant–Appellee.

Rebecca Tushnet, Washington, D.C., for amici brief of Law Professors in support of appellee.

Anthony J. Dreyer, Jordan A. Feirman, and Andrew L. Green, all of New York, NY, for amici brief of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. and National Hockey League in support of appellee.

Before WOLLMAN, BYE, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

GRUENDER

, Circuit Judge.

Appellants John Frederick Dryer, Elvin Lamont Bethea, and Edward Alvin White played professional football in the National Football League ("NFL"). They participated in a putative class-action lawsuit in which twenty-three former NFL players sued the NFL on behalf of themselves and similarly situated former players. This suit claimed that films produced by NFL-affiliate NFL Films violated the players' rights under the right-of-publicity laws of various states as well as their rights under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125

. Twenty of those players settled their dispute with the NFL, but the appellants elected to opt out of that settlement and pursue their individual right-of-publicity and Lanham Act claims. The district court¹ granted the NFL's motion for summary judgment on these claims. We affirm.

I.

NFL Films creates theme-based audio-visual productions ("films") describing significant games, seasons, and players in the NFL's history. The films consist of compilations of game footage and interviews with players, coaches, and other individuals involved in the game. Since 1965, NFL Films has produced hundreds of these films, and many have won awards for the creative elements they employ. The NFL sells copies of the films to individual consumers, and it licenses the right to display the films to distributors such as Warner Home Video, Hulu, and ESPN. The league also broadcasts some of the films on its television network and website.

Appellants Dryer, Bethea, and White played in the NFL during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. All three players appear in game footage featured in a number of the films, and all three gave interviews after they retired for use in the films.

The appellants joined twenty other former NFL players in a putative class-action lawsuit against the NFL. The suit alleged that the NFL's use of footage of games in which these players participated violates the common law and statutory rights of publicity of various states. The players brought claims for injunctive relief and damages under these laws as well as a claim for unjust enrichment. The players further claimed that the NFL's use of images depicting them playing football violates the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125

.

Most of the original plaintiffs resolved their dispute with the NFL in a settlement through which the NFL established both a fund for the benefit of all former professional players and a licensing agency to assist those players in exploiting their publicity rights. The appellants opted out of that settlement, and the only issues involved in this appeal are their individual right-of-publicity and Lanham Act claims against the NFL's use of their images in the films. The appellants do not challenge the NFL's use of the interviews they each gave to NFL Films.

The district court granted summary judgment to the NFL on the appellants' right-of-publicity claims. The court found that the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 301(a)

, preempted those claims because the claims challenged a work in which the NFL held a valid copyright and asserted rights identical to those protected by copyright law. The court further found that because the films are expressive, non-commercial speech, the appellants' right-of-publicity claims must yield to the First Amendment. In addition, the court found that the films fell under newsworthiness or public interest safe harbors included in each of the relevant state laws. Finally, the court found that the appellants' implied consent to the creation and publication of the films, as well as the doctrine of laches, provided independent bases for its judgment in favor of the NFL. With respect to the appellants' claim under the Lanham Act, the court granted the NFL summary judgment because the court found that Lanham Act claims apply only to commercial speech, and in any event the films did not pose a risk of confusing consumers as to the appellants' affiliation with or endorsement of the NFL. The appellants appeal all of these rulings.

II.

Summary judgment is proper if the moving party "shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a)

. A court considering a motion for summary judgment must view the evidence and inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Enter. Bank v. Magna Bank of Mo., 92 F.3d 743, 747 (8th Cir.1996)

. A party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment may not rest on mere allegations or denials, but must set forth specific facts in the record showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

A.

The appellants argue first that the district court erred by finding that the Copyright Act preempts their right-of-publicity claims. Section 301(a) of the Copyright Act provides that federal copyright law preempts "all legal or equitable rights that are equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright ... in works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression and come within the subject matter of copyright." 17 U.S.C. § 301(a)

. In determining whether federal copyright law preempts a cause of action under state law, this court asks (1) whether "the work at issue is within the subject matter of copyright as defined in §§ 102 and 103 of the Copyright Act" and (2) whether "the state law created right is equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright as specified in § 106." Nat'l Car Rental Sys., Inc. v. Comput. Assocs. Int'l, Inc., 991 F.2d 426, 428 (8th Cir.1993). If a plaintiff's state-law claim meets both of these criteria, copyright law will preempt that claim as a matter of law. Id.

With respect to the first requirement, the Copyright Act defines the subject matter of copyright as "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression ... from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)

. The appellants argue that their performances in football games during their NFL careers constitute part of their identities rather than "fixed" works eligible for copyright protection.

This argument lacks merit. Although courts have recognized that the initial performance of a game is an "athletic event" outside the subject matter of copyright, Nat'l Basketball Ass'n v. Motorola, Inc., 105 F.3d 841, 846 (2d Cir.1997)

, the Copyright Act specifically includes within its purview fixed recordings of such live performances, 17 U.S.C. § 101. Indeed, the same decision that the appellants cite to support excluding live sporting events from copyright law recognized that "[t]he Copyright Act was amended in 1976 specifically to insure that simultaneously-recorded transmissions of live performances and sporting events would meet the Act's requirement that the original work of authorship be ‘fixed in any tangible medium of expression.’ " Nat'l Basketball Ass'n, 105 F.3d at 847 (quoting 17 U.S.C. § 102(a) ). The appellants do not argue that NFL Films lacked permission to record appellants' live performances in NFL games. Nor do they dispute that the NFL maintains an enforceable copyright in the footage that NFL Films gathered during those games. Because the appellants do not challenge the NFL's use of their likenesses or identities in any context other than the publication of that game footage, we hold that the appellants' right-of-publicity claims challenge a "work ... within the subject matter of copyright." See Nat'l Car Rental, 991 F.2d at 428.

Regarding the second requirement, the Supreme Court has recognized that the purpose of copyright protection is to "suppl[y] the economic incentive to create and disseminate ideas."

Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539, 558, 105 S.Ct. 2218, 85 L.Ed.2d 588 (1985)

. Copyright law achieves this objective "[b]y establishing a marketable right to the use of one's expression." Id. The primary rationales underlying the right of publicity, meanwhile, are "the desire to provide incentives to encourage a person's productive activities and to protect consumers from misleading advertising." C.B.C. Distribution & Mktg., Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P., 505 F.3d 818, 824 (8th Cir.2007). Due to the state's interest in protecting consumers, a right-of-publicity suit challenging the use of a copyrighted work in a commercial advertisement could have purposes unrelated to the aims of copyright law. See, e.g., Facenda v. NFL Films, Inc., 542 F.3d 1007, 1029 (3d Cir.2008) (finding no preemption where a copyrighted voice recording was used in an advertisement for an unrelated product). When a right-of-publicity suit challenges the expressive, non-commercial use...