Amazon Content Services LLC v. Kiss Library

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedDecember 17, 2021
Docket2:20-cv-01048
StatusUnknown

This text of Amazon Content Services LLC v. Kiss Library (Amazon Content Services LLC v. Kiss Library) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amazon Content Services LLC v. Kiss Library, (W.D. Wash. 2021).

Opinion

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5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 9 10 AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES CASE NO. C20-1048 MJP LLC, et al., 11 ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ Plaintiffs, MOTION FOR DEFAULT 12 JUDGMENT v. 13 KISS LIBRARY, RODION 14 VYNNYCHENKO, ARTEM BESSHAPOCHNY, JACK BROWN, 15 DOES 1-10, 16 Defendants.

17 18 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Judgment. (Dkt. No. 19 39). Having reviewed the Motion, all supporting materials, and the relevant portions of the 20 record, the Court GRANTS the Motion and ENTERS DEFAULT JUDGMENT against 21 Defendants Kiss Library, Rodion Vynnychenko, and Artem Besshapochny (“Defendants”) and 22 ENTERS a PERMANENT INJUNCTION against Defendants on the terms set forth in this 23 Order. This Order does not apply to Jack Brown because Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their 24 claims against him. (See Dkt. No. 37.) 1 BACKGROUND 2 Plaintiffs are a group of publishers and authors who allege that Defendants illegally 3 copied, distributed, and sold Plaintiffs’ copyrighted literary works. (Complaint ¶ 1 (Dkt. No. 1).) 4 The authors include Lee Child, Sylvia Day, John Grisham, C.J. Lyons, Doug Preston, Jim

5 Rasenberger, T.J. Stiles, R.L. Stine, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Nicholas Weinstock, and 6 Stuart Woods (“Authors”). (Id.) The publishers are Penguin Random House LLC and Amazon 7 Content Services LLC (“Publishers”). (Id.) Plaintiffs sued Defendants to recover damages and 8 put an end to the illegal trade of their literary works. 9 Defendants Vynnychenko and Besshapochny are both Ukrainian nationals who created 10 and operated Kiss Library through a variety of websites to offer pirated copies of the Authors’ 11 works without paying the Authors or Publishers royalties for the sales. (Id. ¶¶ 5-7, 23-25.) 12 Defendants used a series of ruses to hide their identities and avoid both detection and 13 accountability. (Id. ¶¶ 36, 38, 46-49; Declaration of John Goldmark ¶¶ 5-13 (Dkt. No. 40).) 14 Plaintiffs have identified at least 52 different copyrighted literary works that Defendants illegally

15 distributed and sold through their websites. (Id. ¶¶ 41-42; Goldmark Decl. ¶¶ 2-3.) Plaintiffs 16 have suffered economic losses through lost royalties and claim to have suffered non-economic 17 damages in the form of lost customers, damaged goodwill, and disruption of distribution 18 licenses. (Compl. ¶¶ 50-52.) 19 Defendants have not participated in this lawsuit and have taken efforts to avoid 20 accountability. Despite being given a notice and opportunity to be heard, Defendants did not 21 respond to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order. (Dkt. Nos. 10, 13-14.) The Court 22 then converted the TRO into a motion for preliminary injunction, which it granted. (Dkt. No. 15.) 23 Defendant Vynnychenko twice refused to accept service and ultimately failed to appear at a

24 1 confirmation of service proceeding required under Ukrainian law. (See Status Report (Dkt. No. 2 31); Declaration of Artem Krykun-Trush ISO Status Report ¶ 4 (Dkt. No. 32).) Ultimately 3 Defendants were properly served in compliance with the Court’s Order on Service, the Hague 4 Convention, and local Ukrainian law. (Dkt. No. 10; Goldmark Decl. ¶¶ 14-16; Dkt. No. 31 at 2.)

5 After the Court issued the Preliminary Injunction, Plaintiffs and their Ukrainian investigator 6 uncovered further efforts Defendants have undertaken to hide their identities and destroy 7 evidence after the lawsuit was filed. (Goldmark Decl. ¶¶ 5-13.) In light of Defendants’ failure to 8 appear and defend against Plaintiffs’ claims, Plaintiffs moved for and obtained default against 9 Defendants. They now seek default judgment and a permanent injunction. 10 ANALYSIS 11 A. Legal Standard 12 After entry of default, the Court may enter a default judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b). This 13 determination is discretionary. See Alan Neuman Prods., Inc. v. Albright, 862 F.2d 1388, 1392 14 (9th Cir. 1988). “Factors which may be considered by courts in exercising discretion as to the

15 entry of a default judgment include: (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits 16 of plaintiff's substantive claim, (3) the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) the sum of money at 17 stake in the action; (5) the possibility of a dispute concerning material facts; (6) whether the 18 default was due to excusable neglect, and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal Rules of 19 Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits.” Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1471–72 (9th 20 Cir. 1986). In performing this analysis, “the general rule is that well-pled allegations in the 21 complaint regarding liability are deemed true.” Fair Hous. of Marin v. Combs, 285 F.3d 899, 906 22 (9th Cir. 2002) (quotation and citation omitted). And “[t]he district court is not required to make 23 detailed findings of fact.” Id.

24 1 B. Jurisdiction 2 Before entering default judgment, the Court must assure itself that it has subject matter 3 jurisdiction. 4 There is little doubt that the Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims.

5 Plaintiffs brings claims under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 501, which fall within the Court’s 6 original jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a). 7 The Court further considers personal jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction over a nonresident 8 defendant is “tested by a two-part analysis.” Chan v. Soc’y Expeditions, Inc., 39 F.3d 1398, 1404 9 (9th Cir. 1994). First, the Court inquires whether the “exercise of jurisdiction . . . satisf[ies] the 10 requirements of the applicable state long-arm statute,” and, second, the Court determines 11 whether asserting personal jurisdiction “comport[s] with due process.” Id. Where there is no 12 applicable federal statute regarding personal jurisdiction, court looks instead to the law of the 13 forum state. See Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. 117, 125 (2014); Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(1)(A). 14 Here, the Court considers Washington law, whose “long-arm statute extends jurisdiction to the

15 limit of federal due process.” Chan, 39 F.3d at 1405. This collapses the two-part inquiry into one 16 question—does personal jurisdiction comply with federal due process. See id. Federal due 17 process requires that defendants “‘have certain minimum contacts’ with the forum state ‘such 18 that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial 19 justice.’” Picot v. Weston, 780 F.3d 1206, 1211 (9th Cir. 2015) (quoting Int’l Shoe Co. v. 20 Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945)). A nonresident defendant has sufficient minimum 21 contacts when: (1) the defendant “purposefully direct[s] his activities” at the forum; (2) the claim 22 “arises out of or relates to the defendant’s forum-related activities”; and (3) the exercise of 23

24 1 jurisdiction is “reasonable.” CollegeSource, Inc. v.

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Bluebook (online)
Amazon Content Services LLC v. Kiss Library, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amazon-content-services-llc-v-kiss-library-wawd-2021.