Banco Popular De Puerto Rico v. Asociación De Compositores Y Editores De Música Latinoamericana

678 F.3d 102, 102 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1964, 2012 WL 1649701, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 9614
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedMay 11, 2012
Docket10-2171, 10-2170
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 678 F.3d 102 (Banco Popular De Puerto Rico v. Asociación De Compositores Y Editores De Música Latinoamericana) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Banco Popular De Puerto Rico v. Asociación De Compositores Y Editores De Música Latinoamericana, 678 F.3d 102, 102 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1964, 2012 WL 1649701, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 9614 (1st Cir. 2012).

Opinion

LYNCH, Chief Judge.

These are cross-appeals in a case involving copyright infringement. In 2001, appellant and cross-appellee Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (“BPPR”) sought a declaratory judgment under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., after several music publishing companies contacted BPPR claiming that they owned and were owed *105 royalties on various music compositions that BPPR had produced and distributed in a series of Christmas concerts. BPPR deposited the royalties due on these compositions with the district court and asked the district court to declare to whom the royalties were actually due, and distribute them accordingly.

Latin American Music Co., Inc. (“LAM-CO”) and its affiliate, La Asociación de Compositores y Editores de Música Latinoamericana (“ACEMLA”), countersued BPPR for copyright infringement of several of their compositions. An additional music publishing company, Guillermo Venegas Lloverás, Inc. (“GVLI”), filed counterclaims against BPPR, LAMCO, and ACEMLA for copyright infringement of the song “Genesis.” The district court consolidated these cases and denied the parties’ respective motions for summary judgment.

Subsequently, several of the co-defendants settled their claims for copyright infringement amongst themselves and with BPPR. The district court then bifurcated the remaining claims into two cases, case 01-1461 proceeded as a jury trial, case 01-1142, as a bench trial.

The jury found BPPR liable for the copyright infringement of two compositions owned by LAMCO and ACEMLA, and awarded LAMCO and ACEMLA $42,941.00 in compensatory damages. Meanwhile, after the bench trial, the district court found ACEMLA liable for violating the copyright of GVLI’s composition and ordered ACEMLA to pay GVLI $43,405.35, plus interest, in damages. We affirm the decisions in both cases, in all respects.

I.

Beginning in 1993, BPPR, a financial services corporation, has produced live Christmas concerts to showcase Puerto Rican and international singers and songwriters. These concerts are broadcast over major radio and television stations throughout Puerto Rico, and then released on CD, DVD, and in other formats, in part to raise money for BPPR’s philanthropic foundation, Fundación Banco Popular.

BPPR did not initially obtain performance, mechanical, or synchronization licenses for all of the compositions it utilized in these concerts. In 1998, BPPR began the complicated task of obtaining retroactive licenses from various license holders for the use of their compositions in the 1993-1998 concerts.

LAMCO, a New York-based music publisher, represented to BPPR through LAMCO’s affiliate, ACEMLA, a performance-rights company based in Puerto Rico, 1 that it held the rights to license and collect royalties for a number of the compositions utilized by BPPR before 1999. BPPR negotiated with LAMCO a contract (the “retroactive licensing agreement”) in which BPPR agreed to pay $91,977.26 to LAMCO for the mechanical and synchronization licenses for six compositions: “Dame La Mano Paloma,” “Genesis,” “Madrigal,” “Mi Jaragual,” “Ojos Chinos,” and “Un Jibaro Terminado,” as well as $260,432.12 in public performance fees to ACEMLA for the public performance of its entire catalogue between 1993 and 1998. In exchange, LAMCO/ACEMLA agreed to indemnify BPPR against any future claimants asserting interests in the performance of the compositions set forth *106 in the agreement. At the same time, BPPR negotiated with LAMCO/ACEMLA the mechanical and synchronization licenses for seventeen compositions BPPR planned to use in its 1999 Christmas concert, and began negotiations for the performance rights for these same compositions. The parties never followed through on this performance license agreement however, partly, BPPR alleges, because BPPR became aware that LAM-CO/ACEMLA did not hold the rights to some of the compositions it sought to license to BPPR.

While negotiations for the 1999 Christmas concert were ongoing, BPPR began to receive claims from outside entities purporting to hold the rights to several of the compositions then under negotiation for the 1999 Christmas concert as well as compositions which had been licensed to BPPR by LAMCO/ACEMLA under the retroactive license agreement. On January 31, 2001, BPPR filed suit under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1338(a), 1400(a), and 2201(a), seeking a declaratory judgment and naming those companies which had come forward: Peer International Corporation and affiliates (“Peer”), Universal Música Inc. (“Universal”), Sonido, Inc., EMI Catalogue Partnership and affiliates, GVLI, Broadcast Music, Inc., and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, as well as LAMCO/ACEMLA, and any and all other entities purporting to hold rights in the compositions utilized in the 1993-1999 Christmas concerts.

BPPR deposited the royalties due on these compositions with the district court and asked the court to disburse the monies to whichever of the defendants were lawful license holders of the compositions during the time period in question. BPPR also requested that the court enjoin the defendants from instituting any further copyright infringement actions against it over the 1993-1999 Christmas concerts. BPPR asked for a reimbursement of any sums of money paid under the retroactive licensing agreement to LAMCO/ACEMLA for the rights to perform works which were not actually under the control of LAM-CO/ACEMLA during the term of the agreement; or, in the alternative, for an offset against any royalties or fees the court found BPPR owed to LAM-CO/ACEMLA.

On March 22, 2001, LAMCO/ACEMLA answered BPPR’s complaint, contesting various facts and alleging that BPPR had not yet paid the royalties owed LAM-CO/ACEMLA for several compositions performed in BPPR’s 1999, 2000, and 2001 Christmas concerts. For this reason, and under the terms of the retroactive licensing agreement, including its indemnity provision, LAMCO/ACEMLA argued that BPPR should not receive any offset or refund of monies paid for the license to use any of the compositions included under the agreement. In addition, on April 19, 2001, LAMCO/ACEMLA filed its own complaint against BPPR under the Copyright Act and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1337(a), 1338(a), and 2201(a), alleging that BPPR had willfully infringed LAMCO/ACEMLA’s copyrights to multiple compositions performed in BPPR’s 1999, 2000, and 2001 Christmas concerts, and had committed other violations under the Copyright Act and Puerto Rico law.

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Bluebook (online)
678 F.3d 102, 102 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1964, 2012 WL 1649701, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 9614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/banco-popular-de-puerto-rico-v-asociacion-de-compositores-y-editores-de-ca1-2012.