Bit Parts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Los Angeles News Service wasn't entitled to recover actual damages for copyright infringement that occurred primarily outside the United States from the broadcast of footage of the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny during the Los Angeles riots. (The works had been copied in New York.) Los Angeles News Service v. Reuters Television International Ltd., 02-56956. The appeals court noted that there was “no rational deterrent function is served by making an infringer whose domestic act of infringement – from which he earns no profit – leads to widespread extraterritorial infringement, liable for the copyright owner's entire loss of value or profit from that overseas infringement, particularly if the overseas infringement is legal where it takes place.”

DVD Decryption Injunction Upheld

The California Supreme Court decided that a preliminary injunction barring the Web posting of DeCSS information that permits the unauthorized copyright of DVDs didn't violate the Web operator's First Amendment rights. DVD Copy Control Association v. Bunner, S102588. The trial court had issued the injunction after finding that Web site operator Andrew Bunner misappropriated trade secrets in violation of Calif. Civ. Code Sec. 3426.1. But the California Court of Appeal reversed. The state supreme court noted, however, “Bunner posted these secrets in the form of DeCSS on the Internet so Linux users could enjoy and use DVD's and so others could improve the functional capabilities of DeCSS. He did not post them to comment on any public issue or to participate in any public debate. Indeed, only computer encryption enthusiasts are likely to have an interest in the expressive content – rather than the uses – of DVD CCA's trade secrets.”

Insurer Must Defend Film Studio

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held, in an unpublished opinion, that an insurance company had a duty to defend Time Warner in a suit brought against it by director Francis Ford Coppola. Time Warner Entertainment Co. v. Continental Casualty Co., 02-56221. Coppola had claimed that Time Warner interfered with his attempt to make a “Pinnochio” movie with the Columbia film studio. The appeals court concluded that Coppola's claim fell within the entertainment-risk piracy and misappropriation provisions of the policy that Time Warner had purchased and that the policy covered the pre-production acquiring of and defending rights in a creative work.

Restoration Ruling Reconfirmed

A Manhattan federal court has upheld its earlier grant of summary judgment for Naxos of American in a suit by Capitol Records over the release of digital copies of shellac recordings made by such classical composers as Pablo Casals and Yehudi Menuhin. Capitol Records Inc. v. Naxos of America Inc., 02-7890. The original recordings had not only entered the public domain, the district court noted, but there was confusion over chain of title. Capitol had abandoned its interests in the shellac recordings and “Naxos did not compete unfairly under New York law. Naxos did not attempt to sell identical copies of the shellac recordings, employing effort and skill in making its restorations.”

Actual Damages Denied

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Los Angeles News Service wasn't entitled to recover actual damages for copyright infringement that occurred primarily outside the United States from the broadcast of footage of the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny during the Los Angeles riots. (The works had been copied in New York.) Los Angeles News Service v. Reuters Television International Ltd., 02-56956. The appeals court noted that there was “no rational deterrent function is served by making an infringer whose domestic act of infringement – from which he earns no profit – leads to widespread extraterritorial infringement, liable for the copyright owner's entire loss of value or profit from that overseas infringement, particularly if the overseas infringement is legal where it takes place.”

DVD Decryption Injunction Upheld

The California Supreme Court decided that a preliminary injunction barring the Web posting of DeCSS information that permits the unauthorized copyright of DVDs didn't violate the Web operator's First Amendment rights. DVD Copy Control Association v. Bunner, S102588. The trial court had issued the injunction after finding that Web site operator Andrew Bunner misappropriated trade secrets in violation of Calif. Civ. Code Sec. 3426.1. But the California Court of Appeal reversed. The state supreme court noted, however, “Bunner posted these secrets in the form of DeCSS on the Internet so Linux users could enjoy and use DVD's and so others could improve the functional capabilities of DeCSS. He did not post them to comment on any public issue or to participate in any public debate. Indeed, only computer encryption enthusiasts are likely to have an interest in the expressive content – rather than the uses – of DVD CCA's trade secrets.”