ABS Entertainment, Inc. v. CBS Corp.

163 F. Supp. 3d 103, 117 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1874, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19514, 2016 WL 676464
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 18, 2016
Docket15-cv-6801
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 163 F. Supp. 3d 103 (ABS Entertainment, Inc. v. CBS Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
ABS Entertainment, Inc. v. CBS Corp., 163 F. Supp. 3d 103, 117 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1874, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19514, 2016 WL 676464 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JOHN G. KOELTL, District Judge:

On August 28, 2015, ABS Entertainment, Inc., filed a class action complaint, on behalf of itself and other owners of sound recordings, against CBS Corporation, CBS Radio, and various Does. As reflected in the First Amended Class Action Complaint (“FACAC”) filed on October 30, 2015, Barnaby Records, Brunswick Record Corporation and Malaco Inc. joined the action as plaintiffs. The plaintiffs allege that CBS and its subsidiaries broadcast sound recordings that the plaintiffs claim to own through broadcast radio channels, [¶] radio channels, the Internet, and its stations’ websites without the plaintiffs’ consent. The plaintiffs allege that CBS did not obtain the necessary performance rights licenses and did not pay public performance royalties to the owners of the sound recordings of works that were recorded prior to February 15,1972.

The plaintiffs allegedly own sound recordings that were recorded before 1972, prior to the amendment of the Copyright Act that added “sound recordings” to the list of protected works. See 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)(7). Thus, the class complaint only alleges violations of state law. There is complete diversity in this case, see FA-CAC ¶¶ 9-12, and this Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

The gist of the class complaint is that CBS violated the public performance rights of pre-1972 recordings, and that these pre-1972 recordings are protected under New York common law. The class complaint alleges (1) common law copyright infringement of pre-1972 recordings and (2) unfair competition. As part of their common law copyright infringement claim, the plaintiffs seek compensatory damages in excess of $5,000,000, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, prejudgment interest, and an injunction enjoining and restraining CBS and its subsidiaries from infringing the plaintiffs’ copyrights. The parties disagree about whether there is a right to common law copyright protection under New York law.

The issue before this Court on the current motion is a narrow one, namely the statute of limitations that applies to the common law copyright infringement claim. By mutual agreement, the parties filed submissions to this Court addressing the issue of what statute of limitations should apply to this claim. The plaintiffs argue for a longer statute of limitations of six years under New York Civil Practice Law & Rules (“C.P.L.R.”) § 213(1), a catchall provision for claims for which the C.P.L.R. does not prescribe a specific statute of limitations. See N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(1). CBS contends that a three-year limitations period should apply to the plaintiffs’ common law copyright infringement claim under C.P.L.R. § 214(4) because the claim is “an action to recover [106]*106damages for an injury to property.” N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(4).

The Court will take the parties’ submissions as a motion to dismiss all claims for copyright infringement under New York law that accrued more than three years before the present lawsuit was filed. Accordingly, the applicable standard is the standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). In deciding a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), the allegations in the complaint are accepted as true, and all reasonable inferences must be drawn in the plaintiffs’ favor. McCarthy v. Dun & Bradstreet Corp., 482 F.3d 184, 191 (2d Cir.2007); Arista Records LLC v. Lime Grp. LLC, 532 F.Supp.2d 556, 566 (S.D.N.Y.2007). The Court’s function on a motion to dismiss is “not to weigh the evidence that might be presented at a trial but merely to determine whether the complaint itself is legally sufficient.” Goldman v. Belden, 754 F.2d 1059, 1067 (2d Cir.1985). The Court should not dismiss a claim if the plaintiff has stated “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). While the Court should construe the factual allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, “the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions.” Id.

Section 214(4) states that a three-year statute of limitations applies to “an action to recover damages for an injury to property,” and the six-year statute of limitations in C.P.L.R. § 213(1) only applies when the C.P.L.R. does not prescribe a specific statute of limitations. The issue, therefore, is whether the plaintiffs’ copyright infringement claim is an action for damages to “property” under C.P.L.R. § 214(4) or whether the plaintiffs’ claim instead falls under the catchall provision of C.P.L.R. § 213(1). The parties recognize the inconsistent outcomes in Capitol Records, LLC v. Harrison Greenwich, LLC, 44 Misc.3d 428, 986 N.Y.S.2d 837, 838 (Sup.Ct.2014) and Flo & Eddie, Inc. v. Sirius XM Radio Inc., 80 F.Supp.3d 535, 541 (S.D.N.Y.2015) on this issue, with the state court in Harrison applying the catchall six-year statute of limitations provision, and the district court in Flo & Eddie applying the three-year statute of limitations under C.P.L.R. § 214(4). Where state law is unsettled, a court must predict how the state’s highest court would resolve the issue. In re Thelen LLP, 736 F.3d 213, 219 (2d Cir.2013). While the decisions of a state’s lower courts are instructive, it is also appropriate to consider the decisions of courts of other jurisdictions. Id.

CBS argues that C.P.L.R. § 214(4) applies on its face to the copyright infringement claim because the copyright in the sound recordings are “property” and a claim of infringement is an “injury to property.” The term “property” in C.P.L.R. § 214(4) is broad and does not exclude intellectual property, or other intangible property. Section 214(4) is not limited to tangible or real property; the plain meaning of “property” is broad enough to encompass intangible property, like intellectual property in the form of sound recordings or trade secrets. See Black’s Law Dictionary 1410 (10th ed. 2014) (“Collectively, the rights in a valued resource such as land, chattel, or an intangible.”). The plain language of C.P.L.R. § 214(4) thus does not support limiting the three-year statute of limitations in [107]*107C.P.L.R. § 214(4) to tangible property as ABS suggests.

Moreover, well-established’ case law on analogous causes of action supports applying the three-year statute of limitations in C.P.L.R.

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163 F. Supp. 3d 103, 117 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1874, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19514, 2016 WL 676464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abs-entertainment-inc-v-cbs-corp-nysd-2016.