Overseas Programming Companies, Ltd. v. Cinematographische Commerz-Anstalt

Decision Date23 July 1982
Docket NumberCOMMERZ-ANSTALT and I,No. 1101,D,1101
Citation684 F.2d 232
PartiesOVERSEAS PROGRAMMING COMPANIES, LTD., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CINEMATOGRAPHISCHEduna Film GmbH, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 82-7138.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Michael T. Sullivan, New York City (Robert A. Faller, Patricia L. Wager, and Moore, Berson, Lifflander & Mewhinney, New York City, on the brief), for plaintiff-appellant.

Pamela G. Ostrager, New York City (Carleton G. Eldridge, Jr., Lisa B. Dubrow, and Coudert Brothers, New York City, on the brief), for defendants-appellees.

Before FEINBERG, Chief Judge, and NEWMAN and WINTER, Circuit Judges.

NEWMAN, Circuit Judge:

Although a district court has broad discretion in deciding whether to dismiss a suit on the ground of forum non conveniens, see Gulf Oil Co. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 508, 67 S.Ct. 839, 843, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947); Alcoa Steamship Co. v. M/V Nordic Regent, 654 F.2d 147, 158 (2d Cir.) (en banc ), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 890, 101 S.Ct. 248, 66 L.Ed.2d 116 (1980), that discretion is not limitless. 1 The District Court for the Southern District of New York (Constance Baker Motley, Chief Judge) dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds the instant suit by Overseas Programming Cos. for declaratory relief and damages for violations of rights allegedly held by Overseas to certain films. For reasons that follow, we reverse the judgment of the District Court.

Overseas Programming Cos. is a New York corporation with its principal place of business in California. This dispute concerns rights to be exercised outside the United States to certain silent films and "talkies," some of which feature Laurel and Hardy. Overseas claims that it received these rights through two chains of title: (1) from Hal Roach Studios ("HRS") to Grand National Pictures Ltd. to Overseas, from which Overseas claims rights to the "talkies" in the United Kingdom and certain other English-speaking countries (Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand), and (2) from HRS to Richard Feiner to Overseas, from which Overseas claims the non-United States television rights to the silent films. 2 Overseas contends that defendants Cinematographische Commerz-Anstalt ("CCA") and Iduna Film GmbH have interfered with its rights in these films by licensing certain HRS films for broadcast in the United Kingdom and France.

CCA is organized under the laws of Liechtenstein, where it maintains its principal place of business. Iduna is a limited partnership organized under the laws of West Germany. CCA also claims rights in the films in issue by virtue of three agreements. 3 First, CCA contends that in October 1962 HRS granted to it certain rights to the silent films in various parts of the Eastern Hemisphere for a period from 1962 to June 1979. Second, Portcomm Communications Corp., a British Columbian corporation that was at the time a successor in interest to HRS, assigned to CCA rights in the entire HRS film library for most of the Eastern Hemisphere, subject to existing contracts. 4 Finally, CCA and Overseas entered into an agreement in January 1972. By the terms of that agreement, Overseas granted to CCA certain television rights to the silent films in a specified territory (which included West Germany, East Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy), and CCA appointed Overseas as its distributor for the "talkies" in France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Several lawsuits regarding the rights to these films have already been commenced abroad. 5 In this case, Overseas sued CCA and Iduna in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging breach of contract, unfair competition, and interference with contractual rights; Overseas sought damages and declaratory relief. The District Court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the action on the ground of forum non conveniens, and Overseas appeals.

In Gulf Oil Co. v. Gilbert, supra, 330 U.S. at 508-09, 67 S.Ct. at 843, the Supreme Court articulated the private and public interests that a court must weigh in deciding whether a plaintiff's choice of forum should be rejected on grounds of forum non conveniens. Among a litigant's private interests to be considered are the "relative ease of access to sources of proof," the "availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining willing, witnesses," and other matters affecting the cost, speed, and ease of litigating a suit in a particular forum. Furthermore, a court must evaluate the enforceability of a judgment rendered by it, "weigh relative advantages and obstacles to fair trial," and determine whether the plaintiff has instituted suit in a particular forum with the intent to vex or harass the defendant. Id. at 508, 67 S.Ct. at 843. The public interests to be considered include the administrative burdens imposed on already congested courts by suits that are properly centered elsewhere and the burden of jury duty on members of a community with no real relation to the dispute. The Court stated that a community has an interest in having "localized controversies decided at home." Id. at 509, 67 S.Ct. at 843. Finally, the Court noted that "(t)here is an appropriateness ... in having the trial of a diversity case in a forum that is at home with the state law that must govern the case, rather than having a court in some other forum untangle problems in conflict of laws, and in law foreign to itself." Id.

It is this final factor on which the District Court relied most heavily in dismissing the instant suit. The District Court determined that the case presented issues of foreign copyright law which moved the center of the controversy from New York to unspecified locations outside the United States. Although the Court acknowledged that several of the relevant contracts provide for the application of New York law, it found that this fact was not significant enough to prevent dismissal; the Court noted that one of the relevant contracts provides for the application of the law of Ontario. "(B)y asking this court to determine the 'worldwide' rights to the films in New York, instead of in England, plaintiff acknowledges that not only New York law, but also English copyright law, will have to be examined." 6 Overseas Programming Cos. v. Cinematographische Commerz-Anstalt, No. 81 Civ. 5564, slip op. at 5 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 3, 1982).

While a district court's decision to dismiss a suit on the ground of forum non conveniens is to be affirmed absent a finding of an abuse of discretion, see Manu International, S. A. v. Avon Products, Inc., 641 F.2d 62, 65 (2d Cir. 1981); Calavo Growers v. Generali Belgium, 632 F.2d 963, 968 (2d Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1084, 101 S.Ct. 871, 66 L.Ed.2d 809 (1981); Fitzgerald v. Texaco, Inc., 521 F.2d 448, 451 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1052, 96 S.Ct. 781, 46 L.Ed.2d 641 (1976), we conclude that this case is one of those infrequent instances where a dismissal should be overturned. As an initial matter, the District Court erred in failing to designate a more convenient forum to which the parties should be relegated. Lawsuits regarding the rights in issue here are already in progress in three foreign countries. Although defendants, in support of their motion to dismiss, argued that England is a more convenient forum, and the District Court in its opinion appears to assume the same, the Court failed to analyze whether litigating this action in England would in fact be more convenient. When "there has been no...

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