Opinion ID: 781750
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: NTW's affiliation with ASCAP and BMI

Text: 32 With respect to NTW's affiliation with ASCAP and BMI, Bridgeport cites the following conduct in support of purposeful availment: (1) NTW initially affiliated with ASCAP and BMI through the PROs' Tennessee offices; (2) the PROs collect royalties, monitor performances, and perform enforcement functions on behalf of their members; and (3) NTW licensed its entire music composition catalog to ASCAP and BMI, which in turn re-licensed these compositions to third parties. 33 With respect to the collection, monitoring, enforcement, and licensing activities, the record does not support a finding of purposeful availment. As with the mechanical licenses granted to RAL, the record does not reflect that BMI or ASCAP have any affirmative duty to license or market the subject compositions specifically in Tennessee or even nationally. As to the royalty collection, monitoring, and enforcement functions, the nature of these functions has not been submitted with sufficient clarity to the Court as to permit a purposeful availment finding. 34 With respect to the initial contractual affiliation with the PROs through the Tennessee offices of these organizations, in analyzing whether contractual relationships are sufficient to confer specific jurisdiction, the Court focuses on the actions of the defendant in the negotiation and performance of the contract to determine whether it should be subject to suit in the forum state. See Nationwide, 91 F.3d at 795. As explained in Nationwide: 35 [T]he existence of a contract with a citizen of the forum state, standing alone, will not suffice to confer personal jurisdiction over a foreign defendant. Rather, prior negotiations and contemplated future consequences, along with the terms of the contract and the parties' actual course of dealing ... must be evaluated in determining whether the defendant purposefully established minimum contacts within the forum. 36 Id. at 795 (internal citation omitted). 37 As to these factors, Bridgeport does not assert that NTW had any type of substantial contacts or negotiations specifically with the Tennessee offices of BMI and ASCAP, that the contracts' terms contained Tennessee forum or venue selection clauses, or that the parties' course of dealing implicated conduct in the Tennessee forum, other than by way of initial affiliation and the collection of royalties for songs performed in Tennessee. Bridgeport even notes that after initial affiliation, NTW's contact with BMI and ASCAP was maintained through offices not based Tennessee. Based on the foregoing, we cannot find that NTW's prior negotiations and contemplated future consequences, along with the terms of the contract and the parties' actual course of dealing support a finding of purposeful availment. 38