Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/94/129/602278/
Timestamp: 2019-08-18 01:19:35
Document Index: 191156232

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 106', '§ 501', '§ 106', '§ 106', '§ 501', '§ 1338']

Richard A. Frasier, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Adams-sandler, Incorporated, Defendant-appellee,andameriprint, Incorporated; David B. Morey; James Horwitz, Defendants, 94 F.3d 129 (4th Cir. 1996) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Fourth Circuit › 1996 › Richard A. Frasier, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Adams-sandler, Incorporated, Defendant-appellee,andamerip...
Richard A. Frasier, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Adams-sandler, Incorporated, Defendant-appellee,andameriprint, Incorporated; David B. Morey; James Horwitz, Defendants, 94 F.3d 129 (4th Cir. 1996)
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit - 94 F.3d 129 (4th Cir. 1996)
Argued May 6, 1996. Decided Aug. 23, 1996
ARGUED: John M. DiJoseph, Sattler & DiJoseph, Arlington, Virginia, for Appellant. Henry St. John Fitzgerald, Arlington, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Richard Matto, Arlington, Virginia, for Appellee.
Frasier brought this action against Adams-Sandler, claiming that the refusal to return possession of his copyrighted material violated Frasier's exclusive rights under 17 U.S.C. § 106. The case went to trial on March 7, 1995, and Defendant Adams-Sandler moved for judgment as a matter of law at the close of Plaintiff's evidence. The district court granted Adams-Sandler's motion on the basis that (1) the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the case, and (2) Defendant was entitled to judgment pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(c). This court affirms the judgment on the basis of the district court's second line of reasoning.
Frasier asserts that Adams-Sandler infringed his copyright when he failed to return the copyrighted material upon request. Federal law provides that " [a]nyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 118 ... is an infringer of the copyright...." 17 U.S.C. § 501(a) (1996). Section 106 grants the owner of a copyright "the exclusive rights to do and to authorize" any of five different activities, including reproducing the work, preparing derivative works based on the work, distributing copies of the work, performing the work publicly, and displaying the work publicly. 17 U.S.C. § 106 (1996). Thus, the plain language of the copyright law requires that an infringer do or authorize reproduction, printing, or other use of the copyrighted material.
In Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, 104 S. Ct. 774, 78 L. Ed. 2d 574 (1984), the Supreme Court stated,
[Copyright] protection has never accorded the copyright owner complete control over all possible uses of his work. Rather, the Copyright Act grants the copyright holder "exclusive" rights to use and to authorize the use of his work in five qualified ways, including reproduction of the copyrighted work in copies. § 106....
"Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner," that is, anyone who trespasses into his exclusive domain by using or authorizing the use of the copyrighted work in one of the five ways set forth in the statute, "is an infringer of the copyright." § 501(a)....
Sony, 464 U.S. at 432-33, 104 S. Ct. at 784 (emphasis added). Because Frasier does not allege that Adams-Sandler used or authorized the use of his copyrighted photographs, Adams-Sandler cannot be held liable as an infringer.*
This court does not agree with the finding below that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. That court's reasoning was not made part of the record, but presumably the court found that Frasier's failure to allege actions constituting infringement deprived the court of federal question jurisdiction. We think that while Frasier failed as a matter of law to show that Adams-Sandler infringed his copyright, the complaint nonetheless was sufficient to allege an action arising under the copyright laws of the United States. See 28 U.S.C. § 1338 (1993)