A & M RECORDS, INC. v. Heilman

75 Cal. App. 3d 554, 142 Cal. Rptr. 390, 198 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 425, 1977 Cal. App. LEXIS 2033
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 30, 1977
DocketCiv. 48806
StatusPublished
Cited by66 cases

This text of 75 Cal. App. 3d 554 (A & M RECORDS, INC. v. Heilman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A & M RECORDS, INC. v. Heilman, 75 Cal. App. 3d 554, 142 Cal. Rptr. 390, 198 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 425, 1977 Cal. App. LEXIS 2033 (Cal. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Opinion

COBEY, Acting P. J.

Defendant, David L. Heilman, appeals from a judgment which: (1) incorporated the terms of an order permanently enjoining him from duplicating, advertising, shipping, or .transporting within the State of California magnetic tapes or disc phonograph records embodying any part of any recorded performance sold by A & M Records, Inc., without the consent of A & M Records, Inc., and (2) decreed an award of $136,027.82 damages and costs in favor of A & M Records, Inc. 1 The appeal lies. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 904.1, subd. (aj.)

Heilman contends that: (1) the trial court should have declined to exercise jurisdiction over this case; (2) summary judgment was improperly granted on the issue of his liability; (3) sanctions were improperly imposed in connection with discoveiy; (4) the injunctive relief granted conflicts with the commerce clause, the copyright clause, and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution; and (5) the basis for and calculation of damages were improper. 2

*560 We have examined these contentions and hold each of them to be without merit. Therefore we will affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Facts 3

A & M Records, Inc. (hereafter A & M Records) is a California corporation which commercially manufactures and sells recorded musical performances in the form of disc phonograph records and prerecorded magnetic tapes. Heilman has admitted advertising and selling record and tápe “albums” which included performances of songs duplicated from recordings manufactured by A & M Records without making payments to A & M Records or to any of the musicians involved. 4

Heilman is the founder of Economic Consultants, Inc., now known as E-C Tapes, Inc. and doing business as E-C Tape Service (hereafter E-C Tapes). He made all major decisions respecting E-C Tapes’ operations, including those at issue in this case.

In the latter part of 1971 Heilman and E-C Tapes began the business of advertising and selling pirated records and tapes. Records and tapes containing 16 selections were compiled for sale as “albums.” Fifteen recorded performances owned by A & M Records 5 were duplicated and included without authorization in various albums sold by E-C Tapes. All of these performances were initially “fixed” 6 by A & M Records and the recordings first sold to the public prior to February 15, 1972.

*561 From 1971 through the middle of 1975 E-C Tapes made gross sales from pirated recordings of approximately $4,300,000. Gross receipts from the sale of albums, which included pirated recorded performances owned by A & M Records, were at least $729,337.11. On the basis of the percentage of A & M Records-owned performances contained on the albums sold, E-C Tapes obtained gross receipts from the sale of pirated A & M Records’ performances of at least $80,000.

Heilman personally received at least $200,000 from the total piracy operations. In addition, E-C Tapes paid many of his personal expenses including paying for his apartment, car, and personal telephone.

E-C Tapes did not keep books or records breaking down sale of albums by geographical area. It was established, however, that substantial manufacturing operations were carried on in the State of California. The “master” recording and metal parts used to produce disc phonograph records of pirated recordings for sale to the general public, including those here in issue, were manufactured in California as well as a substantial number of the record discs themselves and the labels made for the records.

During the course of the proceedings in this case E-C Tapes twice, and Heilman once personally, violated the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction issued by the trial court and were therefore adjudged in contempt of that court. An effort was made by Heilman to evade the restraining order and preliminary injunction in this case by, among other things, requiring customers in California to provide out-of-state addresses for “trans-shipment.” In addition, Heilman and E-C Tapes violated injunctions issued against them by courts of the State of Wisconsin restraining them from engaging in record or tape piracy.

Defendant’s operations were moved into the State of Illinois, where record piracy was illegal as well, but substantial record and tape piracy was nevertheless conducted. In May 1975 the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant in Illinois and seized a substantial portion of E-C Tapes’ pirated recordings. But the record piracy operations were again commenced and were still operating at the time of trial.

*562 Discussion

1. Forum Non Conveniens

On the eve of trial on the issue of damages, after a summary judgment establishing Heilman’s liability had been granted and discovery had been completed to the extent possible, Heilman moved to dismiss or stay the proceedings pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens. The motion was denied. He contends that this ruling was an abuse of the trial court’s discretion.

We disagree. Though Heilman did not designate for inclusion in the clerk’s transcript any of the papers relating to this motion, it is clear from the record that the trial court acted within its discretion. As noted in part earlier A & M Records is a resident plaintiff, substantial manufacturing operations related to the record piracy at issue were carried on within the State of California and many of the relevant transactions occurred here. (See Thomson v. Continental Ins. Co., 66 Cal.2d 738, 742-747 [59 Cal.Rptr. 101, 427 P.2d 765].) 7

2. Summary Judgment

Heilman asserts that the partial summary judgment on the issue of his liability was improperly granted. Specifically he contends that: (a) the trial court did not consider his affirmative defense that A & M Records was involved in an illegal “tying arrangement” in violation of the Sherman Anti-trust Act, and (b) there could be no summary judgment on the issue of liability for unfair competition because it had not been established that Heilman “palmed off” his products as A & M Records’ products.

A. Affirmative Defense

A recorded performance embodies two distinct bundles of legal rights: (1) rights in the musical composition itself, the tune and lyrics, *563 and (2) rights in the recording “fixing” the performance of that musical composition. (Copyright Act of 1909 (17 U.S.C. § 1(e) and (f) (amendment added by Pub.L. No. 92-140 (1971) 85 Stat.

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Bluebook (online)
75 Cal. App. 3d 554, 142 Cal. Rptr. 390, 198 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 425, 1977 Cal. App. LEXIS 2033, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/a-m-records-inc-v-heilman-calctapp-1977.