Opinion ID: 786707
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Unjust Enrichment Claim Against Phoenix

Text: 31 Given this two-pronged test, we are satisfied that plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claim against Phoenix is preempted by the Copyright Act. This claim applies to The Thin Red Line project, the heart of which is a motion picture based on a screenplay, which was derived from a novel. Both the motion picture and the screenplay are derivative works protected under 17 U.S.C. § 103. The novel is a literary work protected under 17 U.S.C. § 102. To the extent that the project includes non-copyrightable material, such as ideas, these are not sufficient to remove it from the broad ambit of the subject matter categories. See Nat'l Basketball Ass'n, 105 F.3d at 848-50. 32 Plaintiffs seek to protect their alleged interests in The Thin Red Line under the theory that Phoenix was unjustly enriched by turning Jones' novel and Malick's screenplay into a motion picture without compensating Briarpatch or obtaining Briarpatch's permission. From this, it is clear that the specific right they are trying to enforce is the right of adaptation — i.e., the right to prepare or authorize preparation of a derivative work based on a novel or screenplay. See 17 U.S.C. § 106(2). 33 The basic elements of an unjust enrichment claim in New York require proof that (1) defendant was enriched, (2) at plaintiff's expense, and (3) equity and good conscience militate against permitting defendant to retain what plaintiff is seeking to recover. See, e.g., Clark v. Daby, 300 A.D.2d 732, 751 N.Y.S.2d 622, 623 (2002). Under plaintiffs' theory of the case, the act that allegedly satisfies the second and third elements of unjust enrichment is the act of turning Jones' novel and Malick's screenplay into a motion picture. This act would, in and of itself, infringe the adaptation rights protected by § 106(2) (assuming these rights belong to plaintiffs). 34 To satisfy the first element of unjust enrichment, plaintiffs also allege that Phoenix was enriched by its act. While enrichment is not required for copyright infringement, we do not believe that it goes far enough to make the unjust enrichment claim qualitatively different from a copyright infringement claim. Like the elements of awareness or intent, the enrichment element here limits the scope of the claim but leaves its fundamental nature unaltered. Cf. Murray Hill Publ'ns, Inc. v. ABC Communications, Inc., 264 F.3d 622, 637-38 (6th Cir.2001) (holding that an unjust enrichment claim met the general scope requirement); Ehat v. Tanner, 780 F.2d 876, 878 (10th Cir.1985) (same); 1 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright § 1.01[B][1][g] (2003) ([A] state law cause of action for unjust enrichment or quasi contract should be regarded as an `equivalent right' and hence, pre-empted insofar as it applies to copyright subject matter.).