Umg Recordings, Inc. v. Sinnott
| Decision Date | 05 February 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV.S 02-2153 MCE PA.,CIV.S 02-2153 MCE PA. |
| Citation | 300 F.Supp.2d 993 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
| Parties | UMG RECORDINGS, INC.; Arista Records, Inc.; Atlantic Recording Corporation; BMG Music; Capitol Records, Inc.; Elektra Entertainment Group Inc.; Fonovisa, Inc.; Hollywood Records, Inc.; Interscope Records; J Records LLC; Motown Record Company, L.P.; Musical Production, Inc.; Platano Records Corporation; Priority Records L.L.C.; Skg Music LLC; Sony Discos Inc.; Sony Music Entertainment Inc.; The RCA Records Label, A Unit of BMG Music; Virgin Records America, Inc.; Warner Bros. Records Inc.; Warner Music Latina Inc.; Wea International Inc.; and Zomba Recording Corporation, Plaintiffs, v. Richard SINNOTT, dba, Marysville Flea Market, Defendant. |
Jeffrey G. Knowles, Julia D. Greer, Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, San Francisco, CA, Russell J. Frackman, Jeffrey D. Goldman, Eric J. German, Mitchell Silberberg and Knupp, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, Matthew J. Oppenheim, Stanley Pierre-Louis, Recording Industry Association of America, Inc., Washington, DC, for plaintiff.
Mark Raymond Leonard, Davis and Leonard, Sacramento, CA, for defendant.
Plaintiffs, twenty three recording companies, filed this suit against Defendant Richard Sinnott ("Sinnott"), owner and operator of the Marysville Flea Market ("MFM"), seeking to hold him responsible for the infringement of many of the copyrights Plaintiffs own. The infringement was committed not by Sinnott directly, but rather by several MFM vendors who were selling pirated or counterfeit music. By this motion, Plaintiffs contend that they are entitled to summary judgment as to Sinnott's liability, leaving only the issue of damages to be decided at trial. As explained below, the Court agrees with Plaintiffs, and therefore the motion is GRANTED.
Plaintiffs are owners of the copyrights to some of the most popular sound recordings in the world. Plaintiffs are also members of the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA"), an organization which, among other things, is charged with combating the problem of counterfeit sound recordings in the United States. Hausman Decl. ¶ 2. Toward that end, the RIAA investigated the sale of counterfeit compact discs ("CDs") and caseated by vendors at the Marysville Flea Market.
Sinnott has been the sole owner of the MFM since 1992. The MFM operates every Sunday, weather permitting, and has the capacity to accommodate about 200 vendor booths, although there are generally some booths left empty. Sinnott Depo. at 51. Each vendor pays Sinnott a fee to rent a booth to sell merchandise to MFM customers. Sinnott provides security, utilities, restrooms, and a clean environment in which to sell merchandise to the approximately 1,500 customers that attend the flea market each week. Sinnott also operates concession stands at the MFM, and he is the only authorized seller of food or beverages on the premises. Sinnott recently opened and operates a go-kart track at the property.
Sinnott runs the day-to-day operations of the MFM, sets all rules and regulations, and is generally present during operating hours. Sinnott reserves the "right to inspect all merchandise, and also the right to refuse or cancel space rental." Sinnott Depo. Ex. 4. There are also rules restricting the types of merchandise that may be sold, such as prohibiting the sale of alcohol, and also food and drinks that can readily be consumed on the premises. The rules also add special requirements for vendors that sell produce. MFM employs security personnel that patrol the grounds and enforce these rules. MFM security personnel can, and have, ejected both customers and vendors for violating these rules.
On September 3, 2000, RIAA sent investigators to the MFM. There they found three vendors collectively offering approximately 3000 counterfeit CDs and cassettes for sale. The investigators went to the MFM office, and explained to Sinnott that several of his venders were selling CDs in violation of Plaintiffs' copyrights, and sought his assistance in putting a stop to these infringing sales. Ayala Decl. ¶¶ 7, 8; Sinnott Depo. at 120-24. They also offered to train MFM employees on simple methods of detecting pirated and counterfeit CDs and cassettes, and on ways to distinguish these from original recordings. In response, Sinnott "threw (the RIAA investigators) out of [his] office and told them not to come back on [his] property without [his] permission." Sinnott Depo. at 143-44 & Ex. 12. He did allow the investigators to deliver cease and desist letters to the vendors before leaving, however.
RIAA investigators visited the MFM at least six more times between September of 2000 and September of 2003, each time encountering vendors offering infringing CDs and cassettes for sale. Several of the vendors were quite candid in admitting that the CDs and cassettes they offered for sale were not original recordings. In all, a total of approximately 20,000 infringing CDs and cassettes were seen by RIAA investigators as being offered for sale during these visits, and investigators purchased 151 of these infringing CDs and cassettes.
Between September of 2000 and August of 2002, Charles Hausman, Anti-Piracy Counsel for RIAA, sent Sinnott four letters advising him of the infringing activity conducted by his vendors and explaining his potential liability. Each letter contained an offer to train MFM personnel on ways to detect and prevent the sale of counterfeit merchandise. Sinnott did not respond to any of these letters, and while acknowledging receipt, claims that he did not read them.
Plaintiffs, having failed to secure Sinnott's voluntary cooperation and assistance in preventing the infringing sales, filed this suit seeking to enforce their copyrights. Plaintiffs now move for summary judgment on the issue of Sinnott's contributory and vicarious liability for the MFM vendors' direct copyright infringement. This Court has been unable to find another federal court decision on any level that has decided a flea market owner's liability for a vendor's direct infringement.2 As will be explained, the Court does find Sinnott liable, and therefore Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED.3
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide for summary judgment when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). One of the principal purposes of Rule 56 is to dispose of factually unsupported claims or defenses. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
Rule 56 also allows a court to grant summary adjudication on part of a claim or defense. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a) (); see also Allstate Ins. Co. v. Madan, 889 F.Supp. 374, 378-79 (C.D.Cal.1995); France Stone Co., Inc. v. Charter Township of Monroe, 790 F.Supp. 707, 710 (E.D.Mich.1992).
The standard that applies to a motion for summary adjudication is the same as that which applies to a motion for summary judgment. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a), 56(c); Mora v. Chem-Tronics, 16 F.Supp.2d 1192, 1200 (S.D.Cal.1998).
Under summary judgment practice, the moving party
always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of `the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file together with the affidavits, if any,' which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548(quoting Rule 56(c)).
If the moving party meets its initial responsibility, the burden then shifts to the opposing party to establish that a genuine issue as to any material fact actually does exist. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 585-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); First Nat'l Bank v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288-89, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968).
In attempting to establish the existence of this factual dispute, the opposing party must tender evidence of specific facts in the form of affidavits, and/or admissible discovery material, in support of its contention that the dispute exists. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). The opposing party must demonstrate that the fact in contention is material, i.e., a fact that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law, and that the dispute is genuine, i.e., the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Owens v. Local No. 169, Assoc. of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, 971 F.2d 347, 355 (9th Cir.1992). Stated another way, "before the evidence is left to the jury, there is a preliminary question for the judge, not whether there is literally no evidence, but whether there is any upon which a jury could properly proceed to find a verdict for the party producing it, upon whom the onus of proof is imposed." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 251, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (quoting Schuylkill and Dauphin Improvement Co. v. Munson, 81 U.S. 442, 14 Wall. 442, 448, 20 L.Ed. 867 (1872)). As the Supreme Court explained, "[w]hen the moving party has carried its burden under Rule 56(c), its opponent must do more that simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts ... Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party, there is no `genuine issue for trial.'" Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348.
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