Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens Ltd. Partnership

619 F.3d 301, 96 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1260, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 18355
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 2, 2010
Docket08-2381
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 619 F.3d 301 (Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens Ltd. Partnership) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens Ltd. Partnership, 619 F.3d 301, 96 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1260, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 18355 (4th Cir. 2010).

Opinions

Reversed and remanded in part; affirmed in part by published opinion. Judge MICHAEL wrote the opinion, in which Judge GREGORY joined. Judge NIEMEYER wrote a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

MICHAEL, Circuit Judge:

For the fourth time we consider on appeal an aspect of Frederick E. Bouchat’s [306]*306copyright infringement cause against the Baltimore Ravens football organization and National Football League entities for their unauthorized copying of a Ravens team logo, drawn by Bouchat, that was used for three seasons as the team’s official symbol. This appeal arises from an action Bouchat filed to enjoin defendants’ depictions of the copyrighted logo in season highlight films and in the Ravens corporate lobby. The district court found that defendants’ depictions of the logo were a fair use and entered judgment against Bouchat. We reverse in part because defendants cannot establish a fair use defense for the depictions of the logo in the highlight films, where the logo use is non-transformative and commercial. We reject defendants’ contention that Bouc-hat’s request for injunctive relief against these acts of infringement is precluded, and the district court on remand will therefore consider whether an injunction is appropriate. We affirm the district court’s finding of fair use as to the depictions of the logo in the Ravens corporate lobby, where team history is portrayed, free of charge.

I.

Bouchat owns the copyright in a drawing he created in 1995 and proposed for use as the Ravens team logo (the Shield logo). The Ravens used a strikingly similar logo design during the team’s first three seasons, 1996, 1997, and 1998 (the Flying B logo). The Flying B logo was displayed on the side of the Ravens football helmet, painted on the Ravens field, and printed on flags, hats, tickets, and other assorted objects. Our first decision on this subject affirmed the jury’s liability verdict, which found that the Ravens and the National Football League had infringed Bouchat’s copyright in the Shield logo. Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens, Inc., 241 F.3d 350 (4th Cir.2000) (.Bouchat I). Our second decision affirmed a jury award of zero damages for the basic infringement. Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens Football Club, Inc., 346 F.3d 514 (4th Cir.2003) (.Bouchat II). Our third decision, stemming from actions Bouchat filed against numerous NFL licensees that used the Flying B logo, affirmed judgments “in favor of the licensees because Bouchat [wa]s precluded from obtaining actual damages against them.” Bouchat v. Bon-Ton Dep’t Stores, Inc., 506 F.3d 315, 328 (4th Cir. 2007) (Bouchat III).

This appeal arises from an action brought by Bouchat on February 14, 2008, against the Baltimore Ravens Limited Partnership (the Ravens), the National Football League and NFL Productions LLC (together, the NFL), and The Baltimore Sun Company.1 Bouchat seeks an injunction prohibiting all current uses of the Flying B logo and requiring the destruction of all items exhibiting the Flying B logo.

The Ravens and the NFL currently display or otherwise make some use of the Flying B logo. The NFL offers for public sale Ravens highlight films of the 1996, 1997, and 1998 seasons. They are sold for fifty dollars each. The films were shot during and produced shortly after each season, and they have not been edited since their first release for sale. The Ravens organization also plays a short highlight film from the 1996 season on its large video screen during home games.

The highlight films contain actual game footage, edited with slow motion effects, [307]*307musical scores, and a narration. The Flying B logo is displayed in the films just as it was during each game: the logo appears primarily on the helmets of the Ravens players. The logo also appears in other NFL team highlight films from the 1996, 1997, and 1998 seasons for those teams that played against the Ravens in that period. In the 1996 and 1997 Ravens season highlight films, the Flying B logo is prominently displayed as the introductory graphic. In the 1997 film the Flying B logo is displayed on a flag used as a backdrop for an interview, and the logo appears as a graphic next to the name of the interviewee.

The Flying B logo also appears in the lobby of the Ravens headquarters in Ow-ings Mills, Maryland. The lobby is open to anyone entering the building. On one wall is a collage depicting the Ravens history, captioned “Ravens History Begins.” Photos of the team’s first ever first-round NFL draft picks, Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis, are prominently displayed in the collage. The photo of each man is from a Ravens football game, and their helmets display the Flying B logo. A glass cabinet in the lobby displays a sheet of Ravens football tickets from the 1996 inaugural season. The Flying B logo is displayed prominently on each ticket.

Absent a valid defense of fair use, defendants’ current depictions of the Flying B logo would violate Bouchat’s copyright in the Shield logo. At a hearing before the district court on August 13, 2008, the parties agreed to submit the case to the court for a bench trial on the merits of defendants’ fair use defense. On November 21, 2008, the district court issued a decision determining that all of defendants’ depictions of Bouchat’s copyright constituted fair use. Judgment was entered in favor of the Ravens and the NFL that same day. Bouchat appeals this final order, challenging the fair use determination. The Ravens and the NFL cross-appeal, asserting that Bouchat’s claim is precluded.

II.

The fair use defense presents a mixed question of law and fact. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539, 560, 105 S.Ct. 2218, 85 L.Ed.2d 588 (1985). In this arena we review the district court’s legal conclusions de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. Sundeman v. Seajay Soc’y, Inc., 142 F.3d 194, 201 (4th Cir.1998). However, when “the district court has found facts sufficient to evaluate each of the statutory [fair use] factors, an appellate court need not remand for further factfinding but may conclude as a matter of law that the challenged use does not qualify as a fair use of the copyrighted work.” Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 560, 105 S.Ct. 2218 (quotations omitted). The district court’s factfinding is not challenged in this appeal.

Section 106 of the Copyright Act grants “a bundle of exclusive rights to the owner of the copyright,” including the rights “to publish, copy, and distribute the author’s work.” Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 546-47, 105 S.Ct. 2218. These rights, however, are “subject to a list of statutory exceptions, including the exception for fair use provided in 17 U.S.C. § 107.” Bond v. Blum, 317 F.3d 385, 393 (4th Cir.2003). Fair use is a complete defense to infringement. In other words, “the fair use of a copyrighted work ... is not an infringement of copyright.” 17 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
619 F.3d 301, 96 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1260, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 18355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bouchat-v-baltimore-ravens-ltd-partnership-ca4-2010.