Opinion ID: 3065119
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wide Dissemination

Text: [7] Art Attacks can also prove access by demonstrating wide dissemination of its protected work. Three Boys Music, 212 F.3d at 482. Art Attacks argues that it widely disseminated the Spoiled Brats designs in three ways: (1) on the Art Attacks booth itself, (2) on Spoiled Brats T-shirts, which serve as “walking billboards,” and (3) via the internet. In Rice v. Fox Broadcasting Co., we held that a video that sold 19,000 copies over a thirteen-year period could not be considered widely disseminated. 330 F.3d 1170, 1178 (9th Cir. 2003). In Jason v. Fonda, book sales of no more than 2,000 copies nationwide and no more than 700 copies in Southern California did not create more than a bare possibility of access. 526 F.Supp. 774, 776 (C.D. Cal. 1981) (adopted and aff’d by Jason v. Fonda, 698 F.2d 966 (9th Cir. 1982)). Art Attacks attempts to distinguish Rice and Jason by arguing that books and videos require far more attention to view than T-shirts, which require only an instant. Art Attacks also argues that we should look beyond Spoiled Brats sales figures and instead consider the number of people potentially exposed to Spoiled Brats merchandise. We do not find that either of these arguments demonstrate wide dissemination of the Spoiled Brats designs. 13450 ART ATTACKS v. MGA ENTERTAINMENT [8] Art Attacks displayed Spoiled Brats images on its fair booths and store kiosks. The Spoiled Brats designs were not the only displays, but did appear in a binder on the booth’s counter, as well as on the walls of the 20′x10′ booth. Although Art Attacks did not present any evidence of how many people saw or noticed the booth, Art Attacks showed that millions of people attend the relevant county fairs. Even so, there is no evidence that significant numbers of passersby would notice the Art Attacks booth among the many other similar booths at the fair or be able to view the Spoiled Brats displays. [9] Nor are we convinced by Art Attacks’s “walking billboard” argument. Art Attacks sold only 2,000 Spoiled Brats T-shirts per year. The only evidence Art Attacks presented that supports the “walking billboard” argument was testimony from Jo Ann Mauck, the owner of Art Attacks and designer of the Spoiled Brats, that she once saw a person wearing a Spoiled Brats shirt in public. Even allowing for differences in attentional requirements needed to view T-shirts and the books and videos at issue in Rice and Jason, Art Attacks cannot demonstrate that its Spoiled Brats designs were widely disseminated to the extent necessary to create more than a “bare possibility” that MGA had access to the designs. [10] Art Attacks also contends that its website widely disseminated the Spoiled Brats designs. Although we recognize the power of the internet to reach a wide and diverse audience, the evidence here is not sufficient to demonstrate wide dissemination. Art Attacks launched its website in 1996, during the early years of common internet use. The image-heavy website took two full minutes to fully load. Even then, the Spoiled Brats design was only one of several images on the page. Viewers would not see the Spoiled Brats design without scrolling down on the page. Furthermore, the webpage did not include “meta tags” that would identify the Art Attacks site to internet search engines. As a result, a potential viewer who typed “Spoiled Brats” into a search field would likely not ART ATTACKS v. MGA ENTERTAINMENT 13451 encounter the Art Attacks page. A website with such limitations could not have widely disseminated the copyrighted Spoiled Brats material. [11] A reasonable jury could not have concluded that there was more than a “bare possibility” that MGA had access to Art Attacks’s Spoiled Brats designs. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to MGA on the copyright infringement claim.