American Massage Therapy Ass'n v. Maxwell Petersen Associates, Inc.

209 F. Supp. 2d 941, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13168, 2002 WL 1592752
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 19, 2002
Docket01 C 3193
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 209 F. Supp. 2d 941 (American Massage Therapy Ass'n v. Maxwell Petersen Associates, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Massage Therapy Ass'n v. Maxwell Petersen Associates, Inc., 209 F. Supp. 2d 941, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13168, 2002 WL 1592752 (N.D. Ill. 2002).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

DENLOW, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff American Massage Therapy Association (“Plaintiff’ or “AMTA”) filed a six-count complaint against Maxwell Peterson Associates, Inc., (“Defendant” or “MPA”) arising.out of Defendant’s copying of thousands of names from Plaintiffs membership directory. The complaint alleged violations of the Copyright Act, violations of the Lanham Act, common law misappropriation, common law unfair competition, and civil conspiracy. Four counts were dismissed on Defendant’s motion to dismiss. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the remaining two counts: copyright violation and civil conspiracy. This case raises the issue of whether copying 17,617 names and addresses from a directory amounts to copyright infringement. For the following reasons, this Court holds the copying does not amount to copyright infringement and grants Defendant’s motion for summary judgment and denies Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

A. The Parties

Plaintiff, an association of professional massage therapists, is a not-for-profit corporation with its principal place of business in Evanston, Illinois. (PI. Res. ¶ 2 1 ; *943 Def. Res. ¶ 1 2 ). Defendant is a California corporation, marketing and public relations publishing firm that owns the fictitious business names “Massage Today” and “MPAmedia” and publishes the magazine Massage Today. (PI. Res. ¶ 1; Def. Res. ¶ 2).

B. Motion to Dismiss

Plaintiff -filed a six-count complaint against Defendant alleging violations of the Lanham Act; copyright infringement, common law misappropriation, common law unfair competition, and civil conspiracy. Defendant moved • to .dismiss ah counts. Judge George W. Lindberg, of this court, dismissed Counts I and II (Lan-ham Act claims), Count IY (common law misappropriation), and Count V (common law unfair competition). Judge Lindberg allowed Count III (copyright infringement) and Count VI (common law conspiracy) to stand. (Minute Order 8/29/01).

C. The 1999 AMTA Registry

Plaintiff created the 1999 AMTA Registry (“the 1999 Registry”). (Def.ResY 4). The 1999 Registry contains a roster of officers and staff, corporate bylaws, and the names and addresses of 36,399 members, listed geographically (“Geographical”) and by category of membership (“Alphabetical”). (Id.). AMTA membership criteria are defined by the AMTA Bylaws. (Id.). The 1999 Registry also contains a cover with two pairs of hands touching, a table of contents, a list of the AMTA Board of Directors, a mission statement, a hst of goals, a code of ethics, and a list of AMTA staff. (PLRes-¶ 12). Over 35,000 copies of the 1999 Registry were distributed. (Pl.Res.f 13).

The listings in the Geographical portion of the 1999 Registry include the member name, -address, telephone number, membership category, and type of therapist (registered and/or sports massage therapist). (PI. St. Add. Facts, Ex. C at 27). The membership categories consist - of: professional, associate, school, auxiliary, and honorary; and are also broken down further into active, inactive, or retired. (Id. at 29). Plaintiff arranged the membership .listing geographically, first by United States of America, then military location, followed by international countries. (Id. at 27). The city, military base, or island is then listed. (Id. at 27-374). Then the therapists are listed alphabetically in each city, military base, or island. (Id.).

The listings in the Alphabetical portion of the 1999 Registry includes the member name, type of therapist (registered and/or sports massage therapist), and the reference page for contact, information in the Geographical section. (PI. St. Add. Facts, Ex. C at 375). Plaintiff ordered the members first by membership category (Professional, Associate, School, Allied, Auxiliary, and Honorary) and then alphabetized within each category. (Id. at 375-477).

The 1999 Registry contained the above mentioned eight categories of membership, which were defined and described in the Association bylaws. (Def.Res-¶ 8). In 1998, when the 1999 Registry was being prepared, AMTA’s policy and practice included revoking the membership of any member who failed to meet the appropriate criteria for membership pursuant to Article III, Section 7 of the bylaws and only members in good standing were listed. (Def.ResA 9).

AMTA offered members the option of being listed, or not, in the 1999 Registry, as well as the option of being listed on any *944 mailing list of members of AMTA leased, to third parties as a mailing list. (Def.Res-¶ 10). Approximately 4,000 members, who wanted their names and addresses listed in the 1999 Registry, indicated they did not want their names leased to third parties. (Id.).

The 1999 Registry contained the following restrictions in use:

This Registry contains confidential information and is intended for the exclusive use of members of the American Massage Therapy Association. It is maintained as a trade secret, is a membership benefit of the Association, and is specifically designed for membership networking, improved communication, and professional referrals. Possession of, access to, or use by any other means of this Registry does not imply permission to utilize it as a mailing list or for any purpose not stated in the preceding sentence, and is strictly prohibited. '

(Def. Res. ¶ 24; PI. St. Add. Facts, Ex. C at 1) 3 and

The information contained in this publication is the property of the American Massage Therapy Association, is highly confidential, and may not be duplicated or used except for the personal use of the authorized recipient of the Registry. The contents of this Registry may not be used as a mailing list and may not be reproduced or stored electronically or copied in any manner whatsoever without advance unitten permission of AMTA.

(PI. St. Add. Facts, Ex. C at 27).

D.Copyright

AMTA registered its copyright in the 1999 Registry with the United States Copyright Office, and was assigned Registration No. Tx-05436436. (Def.Res.f 5).

E. Defendant Obtains A Copy of the 1999 Registry

Defendant obtained a copy of the 1999 Registry from Diane Routh, a friend of its employee, Jo Ann MacKilligan, who was given the task of compiling a mailing list of massage therapists, by Defendant’s sole owner, Donald M. Petersen, Jr. (Def.Res.f 12). Routh was an ex-employee of Defendant. (Def.Res.f 13).

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209 F. Supp. 2d 941, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13168, 2002 WL 1592752, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-massage-therapy-assn-v-maxwell-petersen-associates-inc-ilnd-2002.