Opinion ID: 806919
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Copyright Equivalency – Conversion

Text: Because we have concluded that at least part of the factual basis for GlobeRanger’s claims may fall outside of the scope of copyright, we leave open the application of this holding to the remainder of the copyright preemption analysis on remand. If none of the claims were preempted, though, there would not be federal jurisdiction under the complete preemption doctrine. Barrois, 533 F.3d at 331. The best argument by the defendants for preemption is on GlobeRanger’s conversion claim. GlobeRanger argues that because Texas conversion law pertains to physical property, it is not equivalent to copyright protection. See Carson, 344 F.3d at 456. The defendants argue that this court has held that claims for conversion of intangible property are preempted. See Daboub v. Gibbons, 42 F.3d 285, 289-90 (5th Cir. 1995). GlobeRanger only mentions in a footnote of its brief that the defendants “converted tangible property.” To support this argument, it refers to two paragraphs of its complaint pertaining to intangible property, such as where GlobeRanger places RFID readers. The allegations GlobeRanger identifies are not allegations relating to tangible property. Thus, for the purposes of jurisdictional analysis, the defendants make a sufficient argument to keep this case in federal court at the motion to dismiss stage. See Carson, 344 F.3d at 456; Briarpatch, 373 F.3d at 308. To be clear, our conclusion on conversion is without prejudice to GlobeRanger’s ability to prove its claim relates to physical property. For example, the second paragraph in the petition that it highlights alleges the defendants took the information they learned from observing GlobeRanger and “hooked it up to the GlobeRanger iMotion server.” If, with the aid of a more developed record, the district court concludes that GlobeRanger’s conversion 11 Case: 11-10939 Document: 00511960675 Page: 12 Date Filed: 08/17/2012 No. 11-10939 claim relates to physical property, a different analysis will be required. If, however, the district court concludes that neither the conversion claim nor any other is preempted, it will lack jurisdiction over this case.