Cenaps Corp. v. Cmty. of Christ

371 F. Supp. 3d 1024
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 27, 2019
DocketCase No. 8:18-cv-1276-T-24 TGW
StatusPublished

This text of 371 F. Supp. 3d 1024 (Cenaps Corp. v. Cmty. of Christ) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cenaps Corp. v. Cmty. of Christ, 371 F. Supp. 3d 1024 (M.D. Fla. 2019).

Opinion

SUSAN C. BUCKLEW, United States District Judge

This cause comes before the Court on two motions: (1) Counterclaim-Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Counterclaim (Doc. No.24), which Counterclaim-Plaintiff opposes (Doc. No. 34); and (2) Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. No. 38), which Plaintiff opposes (Doc. No. 46). As explained blow, both motions are granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background 1

The CENAPS Corporation ("CENAPS") alleges the following in its amended complaint (Doc. No. 14): CENAPS is the owner of all rights to the books and other works of authorship by Terence Gorski, who is an internationally recognized expert on substance abuse, mental health, violence, and crime. CENAPS has identified 87 materials that Gorski has written that CENAPS owns. (Doc. No. 14-1). Community of Christ is a not-for-profit corporation *1027that does business as Herald House,2 also known as Independence Press (collectively referred to as "Defendants").

Prior to September 30, 2017, CENAPS and/or Gorski entered into publishing agreements with Defendants under which Defendants were granted rights to copy and distribute certain materials (hereinafter, "Works"). In August of 2017, CENAPS sent a letter to Defendants purporting to terminate all publishing agreements for the Works, effective September 30, 2017, but it would allow Defendants to sell off their remaining inventory of the Works until December 31, 2017.3 (Doc. No. 34-1). Despite CENAPS' purported termination of the publishing agreements, Defendants continued to copy and distribute the Works after December 31, 2017. As a result, CENAPS filed suit, in which it alleged copyright infringement (via Defendants' continued copying and distribution of the Works) and trademark infringement (via Defendants' use of the "CENAPS" service mark on their website to advertise and sell the Works to the public).

In response to the amended complaint, Herald House (as Counterclaim-Plaintiff) filed a copyright infringement counterclaim against CENAPS and Gorski (Doc. No. 17), in which it alleges the following: The publishing agreements discussed in the amended complaint gave Herald House the exclusive right to publish the Works. The publishing agreements are all essentially identical,4 and they state the following regarding termination of the agreements: "This Agreement shall continue in force and effect unless terminated by Copyright Owner [Gorski] pursuant to ¶ 7 above [regarding declined request for subsequent printings] or in conjunction with the following" three types of events: (1) book out of print; (2) sales no longer profitable; or (3) Herald House's bankruptcy or liquidation. (Doc. No. 34-1, p. 15).

Herald House contends that the publishing agreements could only be terminated if one of the above four types of events occurred-(1) book out of print; (2) sales no longer profitable; (3) Herald House's bankruptcy or liquidation; or (4) declined request for subsequent printings-and since none of these events occurred, the agreements could not be terminated by CENAPS' August 2017 letter. As such, Herald House contends that the publishing agreements remain in force, and Herald House still has the exclusive license to publish and distribute the Works covered by those agreements. Furthermore, Herald House contends that since Counterclaim-Defendants CENAPS and Gorski are currently publishing and distributing nine of the Works listed in an exhibit to the counterclaim5 (hereinafter, "Counterclaim Works"), they are violating Herald House's exclusive license to publish and distribute those Counterclaim Works.

II. Motion to Dismiss

In response to Herald House's counterclaim for copyright infringement, Gorski and CENAPS filed the instant motion to dismiss. As explained below, the motion is granted in part and denied in part.

*1028A. Standard of Review

In deciding a motion to dismiss, the district court is required to view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Murphy v. Federal Deposit Ins. Corp., 208 F.3d 959, 962 (11th Cir. 2000) (citing Kirby v. Siegelman, 195 F.3d 1285, 1289 (11th Cir. 1999) ). The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not require a claimant to set out in detail the facts upon which he bases his claim. Instead, Rule 8(a)(2) requires a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief in order to give the defendant fair notice of what the claim is and the grounds upon which it rests. See Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (citation omitted). As such, a plaintiff is required to allege "more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." Id. (citation omitted). While the Court must assume that all of the allegations in the complaint are true, dismissal is appropriate if the allegations do not "raise [the plaintiff's] right to relief above the speculative level." Id. (citation omitted). The standard on a 12(b)(6) motion is not whether the plaintiff will ultimately prevail in his or her theories, but whether the allegations are sufficient to allow the plaintiff to conduct discovery in an attempt to prove the allegations. See Jackam v. Hospital Corp. of Am. Mideast, Ltd., 800 F.2d 1577, 1579 (11th Cir. 1986).

B. Analysis

In their motion to dismiss, Gorski and CENAPS argue that since they terminated the publishing agreements via the August 2017 letter, Herald House no longer holds an exclusive license to the Counterclaim Works. As such, they argue that Herald House's copyright counterclaim fails.

Pursuant to 17 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
371 F. Supp. 3d 1024, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cenaps-corp-v-cmty-of-christ-flmd-2019.