Opinion ID: 3037323
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First Fair Use Factor: Purpose and Character

Text: of the Allegedly Infringing Use [1] We first consider the nature of the work: whether the new work is transformative or simply supplants the original work, and whether the work is commercial in nature. See Campbell, 510 U.S. at 579. [2] Of primary concern is whether the Sheriff’s Department’s use was transformative; the more “transformative the new work, the less will be the significance of the other factors.” Id. A use is considered transformative only where a defendant changes a plaintiff’s copyrighted work or uses the plaintiff’s copyrighted work in a different context such that the plaintiff’s work is transformed into a new creation. See, e.g., id. at 578-79. The Sheriff’s Department created exact copies of RUMBA’s software. It then put those copies to the identical purpose as the original software. Such a use cannot be considered transformative. See Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., 336 F.3d 811, 819 (9th Cir. 2003) (finding that reproducing music CDs in computer MP3 format is not a transformative use because the resulting use of the copyrighted work was the same as the original use, i.e., entertainment). In cases where “ ‘use is for the same intrinsic purpose as [the copyright holder’s] . . . such use seriously weakens a claimed fair use.’ ” Worldwide Church of God v. Philadelphia Church of God, Inc., 227 F.3d 1110, 1117 (9th Cir. 2000) (quoting Weissman v. Freeman, 868 F.2d 1313, 1324 (2d Cir. 1989)). [3] Next, the Sheriff’s Department’s use of hard drive imaging to copy RUMBA Office did not promote the advancement of knowledge and the arts — goals that copyright intends to secure. “[C]opyright law ultimately serves the purpose of enriching the general public through access to creative works,” Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., 510 U.S. 517, 527 (1994). But the Sheriff’s Department did not “provide the marketplace with new creative works,” nor was there any advancement of public knowledge in this case. Triad Sys. WALL DATA v. LOS ANGELES COUNTY 5375 Corp. v. Southeastern Express Co., 64 F.3d 1330, 1336 (9th Cir. 1995). Thus, allowing such a “fair use” would not further the ultimate goals of copyright law. [4] Finally, the Sheriff’s Department use was commercial in nature. The Sheriff’s Department alleges that its use was “commercially insignificant” because not all of the copies of Wall Data’s computer software were actually used, and because the Sheriff’s Department is a government agency that does not compete with Wall Data. We disagree. As we explained in Worldwide Church of God, “repeated and exploitative copying of copyrighted works, even if the copies are not offered for sale, may constitute a commercial use.” 227 F.3d at 1118. A commercial use “is demonstrated by a showing that repeated and exploitative unauthorized copies of copyrighted works were made to save the expense of purchasing authorized copies.” A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004, 1015 (9th Cir. 2001); see also Worldwide Church of God, 227 F.3d at 1118 (concluding that a user is “commercial” where the infringer profited from its infringement because “it gained an ‘advantage’ or ‘benefit’ from its distribution and use of [the plaintiff’s product] without having to account to the copyright holder”). [5] The terms of Wall Data’s RUMBA license clearly restricted the Sheriff’s Department’s use to a “single designated computer” and prohibited the Sheriff’s Department from using “the Software in any other multiple computer or multiple user arrangement.” Despite this condition, the Sheriff’s Department loaded an entire suite of software, including RUMBA Office, onto nearly all of the computers in the Twin Towers. By using hard drive imaging, the Sheriff’s Department saved man-hours and eliminated possible errors associated with separately installing the individual software packages onto each computer in the Twin Tower facility. Hard drive imaging also ensured that those users who needed to use RUMBA would be able to access the software at whatever computer they were assigned to work. Such flexibility 5376 WALL DATA v. LOS ANGELES COUNTY could only have been achieved by purchasing licenses for each of the computers on which the software was loaded, or by negotiating with Wall Data for a less restrictive license. Accordingly, we conclude that “the purpose and character” of the Sheriff’s Department’s use was commercial, because the copies “were made to save the expense of purchasing authorized copies,” Napster, 239 F.3d at 1015, or at least the expense of purchasing a more flexible license. Thus, the district court did not err when it decided that the Sheriff’s Department’s use was not “for a legitimate, essentially nonexploitative purpose,” and that the commercial aspect of the Sheriff’s Department’s use was not “of minimal significance.” Sega, 977 F.2d at 1522-23.6 [6] The Sheriff’s Department’s installation of the RUMBA Office software onto nearly all of its computers in the Twin Towers was not transformative, did not promote an advancement of the arts, and was commercial in nature. The first factor therefore weighs against a finding of fair use.