Lennon v. Seaman
| Decision Date | 08 September 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 99 Civ. 2664 (LBS).,99 Civ. 2664 (LBS). |
| Citation | 63 F.Supp.2d 428 |
| Parties | Yoko Ono LENNON, Plaintiff, v. Frederic SEAMAN, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Paul V. LiCalsi, Gold, Farrell & Marks, New York City, for plaintiff.
Moira Crouch, New York City, for defendant.
The plaintiff, Yoko Ono Lennon, brings this action against the defendant, Frederic Seaman, for copyright infringement, declaratory judgment, fraud on the copyright office, recovery of chattels, "trespass,"1 tortious interference with contract, prima facie tort, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, as well as for injunctive relief. Presently before the Court is the defendant's motion to a) dismiss various claims in the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted due to i) statute of limitations; ii) laches; iii) preemption of state law claims by the Copyright Act of 1976, § 101 et seq. ("the Copyright Act"); and iv) failure to state an essential element; b) to dismiss the complaint for failure to comply with service requirements; c) to dismiss the state law claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; d) to dismiss the complaint due to failure to comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a); e) to strike matters from the complaint; and f) for an award of fees and costs. All of the defendant's motions are denied, except as follows: the plaintiff's claims for tortious interference with contract and prima facie tort are dismissed; the plaintiff's claims for recovery of chattels and "trespass," are dismissed to the extent that these claims relate to the photographs contained in the book The Last Days of John Lennon: A Personal Memoir by Frederic Seaman (Carol Publishing Group, 1991) ("The Last Days of John Lennon"); and the plaintiff's unjust enrichment cause of action is dismissed because it is preempted by federal copyright law. Furthermore, the plaintiff is instructed to submit briefing to the Court relating to the issue of copyright registration, as described below; and the parties are instructed to submit briefing on the issue of ripeness in relation to the fraud on the Copyright Office claim. All papers should be submitted to the Court within sixty days from the date of this Opinion.
The plaintiff is the widow of the late John Lennon. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the defendant was an employee of the Lennon household. At the center of this dispute lie various photographs and other depictions of the Lennons, presumably taken by the defendant, that were created during the defendant's employment. The plaintiff contends that she is the owner of the copyrights to the items pursuant to the work-for-hire doctrine, as well the owner of the actual photographs themselves. The defendant, on the other hand, claims that he owns the items and the copyright to those items. Out of this difference of opinion arise thirteen causes of action.
The complaint alleges that the defendant unlawfully removed photographs, videotapes and other depictions of the Lennons from the Lennon household from December of 1980 to December of 1981. The plaintiff seeks the return of these items, and damages for "trespass."
The plaintiff also claims that the defendant infringed her copyright in many of the photographs through his unauthorized publication of the items by, among other allegations, appearing and showing the photographs on the Fox Family Channel special entitled "Famous Families: the Kennedys and the Lennons" in February 1999, and on Court TV's program, "Pro and Con," in May 1999. The plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment that she is and has always been the rightful owner of the photographs, as well as injunctive relief. She also asserts that the defendant has been unjustly enriched by virtue of his exploitation of the photographs.
Recently, the plaintiff entered into a contract with Capitol Records, Inc. ("Capitol") to release a box set of Mr. Lennon's previously released and unreleased works. The box set was accompanied by a booklet containing, among other items, photographs of Mr. Lennon. One of these photographs was a picture of Lennon and one of his sons overlooking a beach. The plaintiff contends that the defendant tortiously interfered with her contract with Capitol when he sent a letter to Capitol claiming that he owned the copyright in the photograph. This alleged action by the defendant is also the basis of the plaintiff's prima facie tort claim. Further, the plaintiff asserts a claim for fraud on the Copyright Office relating to the defendant's filing of an application of registration with the United States Copyright Office for the aforementioned photograph used in the box set.
As a condition of the defendant's employment with the Lennons, he purportedly signed a contract ("Confidentiality Agreement") whereby he agreed "not to divulge, exploit, commercially or otherwise, or publicize, in any manner whatsoever, any information, facts, or anecdotes or otherwise relating to [the Lennons] in any manner" without prior written permission from the Lennons. ( The plaintiff contends that the defendant has breached this contract by disclosing information about the Lennons through his dissemination of the photographs and other confidential information to others. She seeks both damages and injunctive relief in regards to the defendant's ongoing breach of the Confidentiality Agreement.
On this motion to dismiss, the defendant argues that the plaintiff is barred by laches as well as the statue of limitations from asserting her various claims. In response, the plaintiff contends that the defendant is equitably estopped from asserting both the defense of laches and the statute of limitations as a result of the defendant's prior behavior. In particular, the plaintiff claims that the defendant's representation that he had complied with his obligations under a plea agreement — which arose in connection with the defendant's conviction for larceny of Mr. Lennon's journals — to return all items wrongfully taken from the Lennon household, even though he had not, constitutes fraudulent concealment and makes the asserted defenses by the defendant inapplicable.
The defendant also contends that the plaintiff's causes of action pursuant to state law are preempted by the Copyright Act, and that various claims should be dismissed for failure to state an essential element of those claims. The defendant also moves to dismiss the complaint for failure to comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a); to strike portions of the complaint; to dismiss for lack of proper service; to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, assuming the copyright claims are dismissed, and for an award of fees and costs
As a preliminary matter, we note that the Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1338, and 1367. Registration of copyright is a jurisdictional prerequisite for infringement actions. 17 U.S.C. § 411(a). This requirement can be met by filing an application for registration. See 2 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright § 7.16[B][1][a], n. 39. The plaintiff alleges that she has been issued copyright registration in the 42 photographs appearing in The Last Days of John Lennon, and that she had filed with the Copyright Office an application and fee for registration of the 332 other photographs for which she is suing for infringement.2 (See Second Amend.Compl. at ¶ 26). The Court does note, however, that some of the plaintiff's copyright claims mention not only the aforementioned Photographs, but also other photographs, videotapes and other depictions of the Lennons. No allegation is made that registration of the copyright in these items has been issued or that an application is pending. For these reasons, the Court directs the plaintiff to submit briefing to the Court within sixty days from the date of this Opinion, indicating either that the plaintiff is relying on an exception to the registration requirement, or that the plaintiff has sought to register copyright in these materials. For the aforementioned reasons, the Court's Opinion today does not address the portion of the plaintiff's copyright claims relating to the other photographs, videotapes or other depictions of the Lennons.
The defendant moves to dismiss the second amended complaint for reasons related to service. The Court's best assessment of the defendant's motion is that the defendant seeks to dismiss the action because the plaintiff failed to file the Affidavit of Service of the original summons and complaint at the time the plaintiff filed those documents. The plaintiff states that the Affidavit of Service was inadvertently omitted when the papers were filed with the Court on April 16, 1999, but that the Affidavit was filed the next business day. A review of the Court file indicates that such an Affidavit of Service was so filed with the Court on April 19, 1999. The Court also notes that a failure to make proof of service does not affect the validity of the service. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(1). Accordingly, this portion of the defendant's motion is denied.
The defendant asserts that the plaintiff has failed to state the essential elements of the following claims: tortious interference with contract; prima facie tort; and unjust enrichment. The plaintiff disputes this assertion.
The plaintiff's ninth claim alleges that the defendant tortiously interfered with her contract with Capitol to release the box set. The defendant argues that the claim has failed to state the essential element of an actual breach. Under New York law, the elements of a claim for tortious interference with contractual relations are: i) the existence of a valid contract between the plaintiff and a third party; ii) defendant's knowledge of...
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