Cameo Clips

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California remanded to Los Angeles Superior Court a complaint by actor Don Johnson's company for an accounting of 50% of the profits from the TV series “Nash Bridges.” Don Johnson Productions Inc. (DJP) v. Rysher Entertainment Inc., CV 09-1906 MMM (JCx). Rysher had previously removed the complaint to federal court on the ground that DJP's claim as copyright co-owner of the TV series was preempted by federal law. But the district court noted “federal courts regularly dismiss copyright complaints that present only questions of contract law. ' DJP's rights in the Nash Bridges copyright derive entirely from the [DJ/Rysher production and development] agreement; the case is thus essentially a contract dispute. ' [A]n action by a co-owner of a copyright for an accounting does not arise under federal law.” The court went on to find “DJP's unjust enrichment and conversion claims are based on defendants' violation of DJP's state law rights as a co-owner. Accordingly, DJP's unjust enrichment and conversion claims are not preempted.”

The California Court of Appeal, Second District, ruled that a model's common and statutory right-of-publicity claims over use of her name, likeness and image to promote a series of videos weren't preempted by the federal copyright law. Vogel v. Bennett, B207248. Victoria Vogel appeared as a model and spokesperson in several “Bikini Destinations” videos. She consented to use of her image but claimed promised conditions, such as giving her joint ownership of the videos and allowing her content approval rights, were never met. The Los Angeles Superior Court granted summary judgment to the defendants by finding that Vogel's state claims were preempted.