Swirsky v. Carey

• Decision Date: 12 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-55033.,03-55033.
• Citation: 376 F.3d 841
• Parties: Seth SWIRSKY, an individual d/b/a Julian's Dad; Warryn Campbell, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Mariah CAREY; James Harris, III; Terry Lewis; Flyte Time Productions, Inc., an entity of unknown designation, e/s/a Flyte Tyme Tunes, Inc.; ATV Songs LLC; Rye Songs; Columbia Records; Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.; EMI April Music, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 841

376 F.3d 841

Seth SWIRSKY, an individual d/b/a Julian's Dad; Warryn Campbell, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Mariah CAREY; James Harris, III; Terry Lewis; Flyte Time Productions, Inc., an entity of unknown designation, e/s/a Flyte Tyme Tunes, Inc.; ATV Songs LLC; Rye Songs; Columbia Records; Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.; EMI April Music, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 03-55033.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted February 3, 2004.

Filed July 12, 2004.

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing August 24, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jonathan D. Freund (argued), Craig A. Huber, Freund & Brackey LLP, Beverly Hills, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

Robert M. Dudnik, Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; Christina A. Snyder, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-09926-CAS.

Before CANBY, JR., NOONAN, and THOMAS, Circuit Judges.

CANBY, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiffs, Seth Swirsky and Warryn Campbell, brought this action in district court, alleging that a song produced by the defendants infringed the plaintiffs' copyright in the song, "One of Those Love Songs." The defendants moved for summary judgment, contending that the plaintiffs' evidence failed to meet this circuit's threshold "extrinsic test" for substantial similarity of works. The district court granted the motion, holding that the plaintiffs' expert had failed to show by external, objective criteria that the two songs shared a similarity of ideas and expression. Plaintiffs appeal. We conclude that the plaintiffs' expert's evidence was sufficient to present a triable issue of the extrinsic similarity of the two songs, and that the district court's ruling to the contrary was based on too mechanical an application of the extrinsic test to these musical compositions. We also conclude that the district court erred in ruling portions of plaintiffs' song to be unprotectable by copyright as a matter of law. We accordingly reverse the summary judgment.

Factual Background

This case concerns the alleged similarity between the choruses of two popular and contemporary rhythm and blues ("R & B") songs: plaintiffs'"One of Those Love Songs" ("One") and Mariah Carey's "Thank God I Found You" ("Thank God"). One was jointly composed by plaintiffs Seth Swirsky and Warryn Campbell (collectively "Swirsky") in 1997. Pursuant to a licensing agreement, One was recorded by the musical group Xscape and released in May 1998 on Xscape's album "Traces of My Lipstick." Thank God was composed by defendants Carey, James Harris III, and Terry Lewis in 1999 and was released on Carey's album "Rainbow" in November 1999.

One and Thank God have generally dissimilar lyrics and verse melodies, but they share an allegedly similar chorus that Swirsky claims as an infringement of One's copyright.¹ Swirsky filed this action in district court against Carey, Harris, Lewis, and a number of music companies that had financial interests in Thank God (collectively "Carey") for copyright infringement and related claims.² The defendants moved for summary judgment, contending that Swirsky had failed to present a triable issue on the required first, or "extrinsic," part of our circuit's two-part test for the establishment of substantial similarity necessary to sustain a claim of copyright infringement. The defendants also contended that portions of One were not protectable by copyright. The district court agreed with both contentions and granted summary judgment to Carey. Swirsky moved for reconsideration, which the district court denied. This appeal followed.

Substantial Similarity

We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. See Smith v. Jackson, 84 F.3d 1213, 1218(9th Cir.1996). We may uphold the summary judgment only if we find that "no reasonable juror could find substantial similarity of ideas and expression [between One and Thank God], viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Id. (quoting Kouf v. Walt Disney Pictures & Television, 16 F.3d 1042, 1045 (9th Cir.1994)); Narell v. Freeman, 872 F.2d 907, 909-910 (9th Cir.1989). If Swirsky presented "indicia of a sufficient disagreement concerning the substantial similarity of [the] two works," then the case must be submitted to a trier of fact. Brown Bag Software v. Symantec Corp., 960 F.2d 1465, 1472 (9th Cir.1992) (internal quotations and citation omitted).

To establish a successful copyright infringement claim, Swirsky must show that (1) he owns the copyright in One and (2) Carey copied protected elements of One. See Rice v. Fox Broad. Co., 330 F.3d 1170, 1174 (9th Cir.2003) (Rice I); Smith, 84 F.3d at 1218. For purposes of summary judgment, Carey conceded that Swirsky owns a valid copyright in One. The element of copying is rarely the subject of direct evidence; Swirsky may establish copying by showing that Carey had access to One and that Thank God was substantially similar to One in One's protected elements. See Smith, 84 F.3d at 1218; Metcalf v. Bochco, 294 F.3d 1069, 1072(9th Cir.2002). Where a high degree of access is shown, we require a lower standard of proof of substantial similarity. See Three Boys Music Corp. v. Bolton, 212 F.3d 477, 485(9th Cir.2000); Smith, 84 F.3d at 1218. For the purposes of summary judgment, Carey conceded that she had a high degree of access to One.³ Swirsky's burden of proof of substantial similarity is thus commensurately lowered.

In determining whether two works are substantially similar, we employ a two-part analysis: an objective extrinsic test and a subjective intrinsic test. For the purposes of summary judgment, only the extrinsic test is important because the subjective question whether works are intrinsically similar must be left to the jury. See Rice I, 330 F.3d at 1174; Smith, 84 F.3d at 1218. If Swirsky cannot present evidence that would permit a trier of fact to find that he satisfied the extrinsic test, he necessarily loses on summary judgment because a "jury may not find substantial similarity without evidence on both the extrinsic and intrinsic tests." Rice I, 330 F.3d at 1174 (quoting Kouf, 16 F.3d at 1045).

The extrinsic test considers whether two works share a similarity of ideas and expression as measured by external, objective criteria.⁴ See Smith, 84 F.3d at 1218. The extrinsic test requires "analytical dissection of a work and expert testimony." Three Boys, 212 F.3d at 485. "Analytical dissection" requires breaking the works "down into their constituent elements, and comparing those elements for proof of copying as measured by `substantial similarity.'" Rice v. Fox Broad. Co., 148 F.Supp.2d 1029, 1051 (C.D.Cal.2001), reversed on other grounds, 330 F.3d 1170 (9th Cir.2003) (Rice II). Because the requirement is one of substantial similarity to protected elements of the copyrighted work, it is essential to distinguish between the protected and unprotected material in a plaintiff's work. See Rice I, 330 F.3d at 1174; Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., 35 F.3d 1435, 1443(9th Cir.1994); Brown Bag, 960 F.2d at 1475-76.

The expert testimony on which Swirsky relied was that of Dr. Robert Walser, chair of the Musicology Department at the University of California at Los Angeles. On the basis of his aural assessment⁵ of One and Thank God, Dr. Walser opined that the two songs had substantially similar choruses.

Dr. Walser admitted that the lyrics and verse melodies of the two songs differed "clearly and significantly," but stated that the two songs' choruses shared a "basic shape and pitch emphasis" in their melodies, which were played over "highly similar basslines⁶ and chord changes, at very nearly the same tempo and in the same generic style."⁷ Dr. Walser also noted that it was a "suspicious coincidence" that the two songs' choruses were both sung in B-flat. Dr. Walser further testified that the choruses in both One and Thank God shared a similar structure in that measures five through seven of each chorus were "almost exactly" the same as the first three measures of each chorus.

Dr. Walser also noted a number of differences between the two songs' choruses. Dr. Walser found that the fourth measures of the choruses were "dramatically different" from each other and noted that while the "basic, emphasized pitches and rhythms" of the basslines were alike, the basslines to both choruses were "ornamented and played slightly differently from chorus to chorus." Dr. Walser also found that certain "text-setting choices"⁸ created differences between the two songs' choruses. For example, he noted that in Thank God, Carey sings "D, scale degree three, for a full beat on the first beat of the first measure" while Xscape in One sings the same pitch "divided into two eight-note pulses." Dr. Walser ultimately concluded, however, that these differences were not enough to differentiate the songs because the overall emphasis on musical notes was the same, which "contribute [d] to the impression of similarity one hears when comparing the two songs."

Dr. Walser transcribed his aural impressions into a series of visual "transcriptions." Dr. Walser created a transcription of each chorus' pitch sequence, melody,⁹ and bassline. Dr. Walser labeled his transcription of the basslines a"reduction" because he transcribed only the "basic, emphasized pitches and rhythms." Dr. Walser thus did not include any bassline notes or pitches he found to be "ornamented" in his transcriptions.¹⁰

The district court found this evidence insufficient to survive a motion for summary judgment for four reasons. First, the district court found that Dr. Walser's expert methodology was flawed. Second, the district court, using its own analysis, found that no triable issue was raised as to the substantial similarity of measures two, three, six, seven, and eight of the two choruses. Third, the district court held that...