Opinion ID: 3035537
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Equivalent to an Exclusive Right?

Text: The Estate’s claim seeks to block the NFL from exercising its exclusive rights under 17 U.S.C. § 106 to reproduce, distribute, perform, and make derivative works from sound recordings in which it owns the copyrights. In that sense, it could be thought “equivalent” to a copyright holder’s exclusive rights. 17 U.S.C. § 301(a), (b)(3); cf. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 723 F.2d 195, 201 (2d Cir. 1983), rev’d on other grounds, 471 U.S. 539 (1985) (“If there is a qualitative difference between the asserted right [a claim for tortious interference with contract] and the exclusive right under the Act of preparing derivative works based on the copyrighted work, we are unable to discern it. In both cases, it is the act of unauthorized publication which causes the violation.”). Under the first prong of express copyright preemption 44 analysis, some courts have looked to the elements of a state-law cause of action. The presence of an “additional element” required to state a cause of action under state law, beyond what a copyright-infringement claim would require, renders the statelaw cause of action not equivalent to a copyright. See Dielsi v. Falk, 916 F. Supp. 985, 991–93 (C.D. Cal. 1996). Pennsylvania’s right-of-publicity statute requires a showing of commercial value, defined as a “[v]aluable interest in a natural person’s name or likeness that is developed through the investment of time, effort and money.” 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 8316(e). The requirement under the statute that Facenda’s voice have “commercial value,” id. § 8316(a), provides an additional element beyond what a copyright-infringement claim requires, see 1 Nimmer on Copyright § 1.01[B][1][c], at 1-29 to -30 (“Invasion of privacy may sometimes occur by acts of reproduction, distribution, performance, or display, but inasmuch as the essence of the tort does not lie in such acts, pre-emption should not apply. The same may be said of the right of publicity.”); accord 2 McCarthy, Rights of Publicity and Privacy § 11:50, at 785. Because the Estate’s right-of-publicity claim relied on an element not equivalent to any of the exclusive rights granted to federal copyright holders, we hold that the first prong of § 301(a) is not satisfied here. 45