Portionpac Chemical Corp. v. Sanitech Systems
| Decision Date | 25 July 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 8:01-CV1297T17MAP.,8:01-CV1297T17MAP. |
| Citation | 217 F.Supp.2d 1238 |
| Parties | PORTIONPAC CHEMICAL CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. SANITECH SYSTEMS, INC., Gregory A. Guice, and William Burnside, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida |
Lonnie L. Simpson, Piper Rudnick LLP, Tampa, FL, Barry M. Heller, J.T. Westermeier, John J. Dwyer, Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe, Washington, DC, for plaintiff.
Jeffrey D. Keiner, Mark Nelson Miller, Frank A. Hamner, Nicolette M. Corso, Gray, Harris & Robinson, P.A., Orlando, FL, for defendants.
THIS CAUSE comes before the Court for consideration of Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Law in support thereof (Dkt.Nos.106-107); Defendants' Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 36); Sanitech's Motion for Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Law in support thereof (Dkt.Nos.108-109); Plaintiff's Substituted Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Final Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 139); Plaintiffs Substituted Statement of Facts in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Final Summary Judgment and Memorandum in support thereof (Dkt. No. 140); Deposition of Syble Thornhill Jones (Dkt. No. 111); Deposition of Charles H. Ainsworth (Dkt.Nos.112-15); Deposition of Marvin Klein (Dkt. No. 115); Deposition of Beverly Girard (Dkt. No. 116); Deposition of Patricia Strickland (Dkt. No. 117); Deposition of Kathleen A. McGinn (Dkt. No. 118); Deposition of Joan Kidd (Dkt. No. 119); Deposition of Leeanna Rae Hollenbeck (Dkt. No. 120); Affidavit of John Atkins (Dkt. No. 122); Affidavit of William Burnside (Dkt. No. 124); and Affidavit of Gregory Guice (Dkt. No. 126).
Plaintiff, PortionPac Chemical Corporation (Plaintiff), created the SFSPac Program, a food service sanitation package of products and methodologies that Plaintiff claims is unique and distinctive. The SFSPac Program is directed at school districts and includes, among other things, color-coordinated and portion-controlled cleaning products; training programs; computer-generated reports; and inventory control features.
In 1993, Plaintiff and Defendant, Sanitech Systems, Incorporated (Defendant Sanitech),1 entered into a distributorship agreement in which Defendants agreed to distribute Plaintiff's line of food service sanitation products to school districts in Florida. To distribute the products to school districts, Defendants were required to submit the products through the competitive-bidding process. Each school specified the products that were required to be included in each bid.
During the term of the agreement between the parties, Defendants were distributing other products to the school districts. In 2000, Defendants terminated the distributorship agreement with Plaintiff in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Subsequently, Defendants began offering a food service sanitation package similar to the SFSPac Program that Plaintiff offered.
On July 9, 2001, Plaintiff brought suit against Defendants in this Court for copyright and trade dress infringement, among other claims. Additionally, Plaintiff moved for a preliminary injunction. Defendants then filed a counterclaim for tortious interference with business relationships and filed their own motion for preliminary injunction. Prior to the entry of this Order, the Court dismissed Defendants' tortious interference claim and denied their motion for preliminary injunction. Additionally, Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed Counts III, V, and VII of its complaint, and this Court dismissed Count XXI and the claims under the Florida Anti-Dilution statute contained in Counts IX and XX with prejudice.
Finally, the Court denied Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction and adopted the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo in full. Now, Plaintiff moves for summary judgment on Counts II, IV, VI, VIII, XII, XVIII, and XXI contained in its complaint.2 Additionally, Defendants move for summary judgment on all remaining Counts in Plaintiff's complaint.
Summary judgment is appropriate "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). The moving party bears the initial burden of stating the basis for its motion and identifying those portions of the record demonstrating the absence of genuine issues of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-324, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). That burden can be discharged if the moving party can show the Court that there is "an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case." Id. at 323, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548. When the moving party has discharged its burden, the nonmoving party must then designate specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue of material fact. Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548.
Issues of fact are "`genuine' only if a reasonable jury considering the evidence presented could find for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Material facts are those that will affect the outcome of the trial under governing law. Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. In determining whether a material fact exists, the court must consider all the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Sweat v. Miller Brewing Co., 708 F.2d 655 (11th Cir.1983). All doubt as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact must be resolved against the moving party. Hayden v First Natl. Bank of Mt. Pleasant, 595 F.2d 994, 996-997 (5th Cir.1979). The court may not weigh the credibility of the parties on summary judgment. Rollins v. TechSouth, Inc., 833 F.2d 1525, 1531 (11th Cir.1987). If the determination of the case rests on which competing version of the facts or events is true, the case should be submitted to the trier of fact. Id.
In a copyright infringement action, summary judgment is proper if the court determines that the similarity between the two works concerns only noncopyrightable elements of the plaintiff's work or because no reasonable jury, properly instructed could find that the two works are substantially similar. Herzog v. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22503, *13 (S.D.Fla.1998) (citing Beal v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 20 F.3d 454 (11th Cir.1994)).
The Copyright Act of 1976 gives the holder of a registered copyright a right to sue. 17 U.S.C. § 501(b). To prevail on a claim of copyright infringement, the plaintiff must prove ownership of a valid copyright, as well as copying of constituent elements of the work that are original. Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 345, 111 S.Ct. 1282, 113 L.Ed.2d 358 (1991). If the plaintiff does not have direct proof of copying, he or she may show copying by demonstrating that the defendant had access to the copyrighted work and that the works are "substantially similar." Herzog v. Castle Rock Entertainment, 193 F.3d 1241, 1248 (11th Cir. 1999) (citing Benson v. Coca-Cola Co., 795 F.2d 973, 974 (11th Cir.1986)). If the plaintiff cannot show access, he or she may still prevail by demonstrating that the works are "strikingly similar." Id. (citing Ferguson v. Natl. Broadcasting Co., 584 F.2d 111, 113 (5th Cir.1978)).
To qualify for copyright protection, the work must be: "1) copyrightable subject matter that is 2) original to the author and 3) fixed in a tangible medium of expression." Infodek, Inc. v. Meredith-Webb Printing Co., Inc., 830 F.Supp. 614, 621 (N.D.Ga.1993) (citing Feist, 499 U.S. at 341, 111 S.Ct. 1282). The Register of Copyrights makes the initial determination of copyrightability before the issuance of a certificate of registration. 17 U.S.C. § 410(a). If registration is made within five years of the first publication of the work, a certificate of registration constitutes "prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate" in any judicial proceeding. Id. § 410(c).
While the burden of persuasion as to the validity of the copyright rests with the plaintiff in an infringement action, once he or she produces a copyright certificate, a prima facie case of validity of the copyright is established, and the burden of production shifts to the defendant to introduce evidence of its invalidity. 17 U.S.C. § 410(c). "At this juncture, it is incumbent upon the putative infringer to establish that the work in which the copyright is claimed in unprotectable (for lack of originality), or, more specifically, to prove that the portion of the copyrighted work actually taken is unworthy of copyright protection." Bateman v. Mnemonics, Inc., 79 F.3d 1532 (11th Cir.1996).
The Copyright Act requires that a work must be an original work of authorship to receive copyright protection. 17 U.S.C. § 102(a). Thus, a plaintiff's copyright is valid only to the extent that it protects against the unauthorized use of the original elements of expression because copyright protection cannot be obtained for nonoriginal elements of a work of authorship. Infodek, 830 F.Supp. at 622. To be "original," the work does not need to be novel; rather, "originality" is a constitutional requirement that means that the work "was independently created by the author (as opposed to copied from other works), and that it possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity." Id. at 622. As such, works lacking a minimal degree of creativity are not proper subjects for copyright protection.3
The merger doctrine denies copyright protection when an idea and its...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hbp, Inc. v. American Marine Holdings, Inc.
...has become famous and causes dilution of the distinctive quality of the mark. 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c); Portionpac Chemical Corp. v. Sanitech Systems, Inc., 217 F.Supp.2d 1238, 1250 (M.D.Fla.2002). To prove a claim of dilution, as HBP asserts, a plaintiff must provide sufficient evidence that: (......
-
Axxiom Mfg., Inc. v. McCoy Invs., Inc.
...See B2B CFO Partners, LLC v. Kaufman, 787 F.Supp.2d 1002, 1007 (D.Ariz.2011) (employee training manual); Portionpac Chem. Corp. v. Sanitech Sys., 217 F.Supp.2d 1238, 1246 (M.D.Fla.2002) (referencemanual); Greaver v. Nat'l Ass'n of Corporate Directors, No. C.A. 94–2127(WBB), 1997 WL 34605245......
-
Bentley Motors Ltd. v. McEntegart
...see also HBP, Inc. v. Am. Marine Holdings, Inc., 290 F.Supp.2d 1320, 1338 (M.D.Fla.2003) (citing Portionpac Chem. Corp. v. Sanitech Sys., Inc., 217 F.Supp.2d 1238, 1250–51 (M.D.Fla.2002)).A. Initially, I find it unnecessary to reach the issues under the dilution claim in Count I. Given the ......
-
Nike Inc. v. Variety Wholesalers, Inc.
...goods or services. Voice-Tel Enter., Inc. v. JOBA, Inc., 258 F.Supp.2d 1353, 1362 (N.D.Ga.2003); Portionpac Chem. Corp. v. Sanitech, Sys., Inc., 217 F.Supp.2d 1238, 1250-51 (S.D.Fla. 2002). A showing of actual dilution, rather than a likelihood of dilution, is required. Moseley v. V Secret ......