CMM Cable Rep., Inc. v. Keymarket Communications, Inc.

870 F. Supp. 631, 33 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1321, 1994 WL 677290, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17293
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 7, 1994
DocketCiv. A. 3:CV-94-1602
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 870 F. Supp. 631 (CMM Cable Rep., Inc. v. Keymarket Communications, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CMM Cable Rep., Inc. v. Keymarket Communications, Inc., 870 F. Supp. 631, 33 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1321, 1994 WL 677290, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17293 (M.D. Pa. 1994).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

VANASKIE, District Judge.

Presently pending before the Court is plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction restraining defendants from infringing plaintiffs alleged copyright and trade dress rights in connection with a radio promotion that pays listeners a fixed sum per hour until another listener responds to the radio station when his or her name is called. Specifically, plaintiff claims that defendants infringed its rights to its PAYROLL PAYOFF® campaign by a promotion entitled “THE ULTIMATE JOB” presently being aired by WKRZ-FM.

An evidentiary hearing was conducted on October 5, 1994. The parties submitted Memoranda of Law on October 6, 1994. In accordance with the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law set forth below, plaintiffs motion will be granted and defendants will be preliminarily enjoined from continuing THE ULTIMATE JOB campaign. The preliminary injunction, however, will not preclude defendants from using an accumulating cash award promotion format and will not prevent defendants from using as its pool of contestants those persons who have responded to its ULTIMATE JOB promotion.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff CMM Cable Rep., Inc. d/b/a Creative Media Management, Inc. (“CMM”) is a corporation with its principal office and place of business in the State of Florida.

2. Defendant KEYMARKET COMMUNICATIONS, INC. (“KEYMARKET”) owns Radio Station WKRZ-FM, which does business in the Wilkes-Barre/Seranton, Pennsylvania area.

3. Defendant FRANK BELL is Director of Marketing for and a principal of KEY-MARKET.

4. Defendant GERALD GETZ is the General Manager of WKRZ-FM.

5. Defendant EAGLE SYNDICATION, Inc., d/b/a EAGLE MARKETING, INC. (“EAGLE MARKETING”) is a competitor of CMM in the business of marketing promotional campaigns to radio stations.

6. Defendant PAUL Meacham is a principal of EAGLE MARKETING. 1

7. CMM is engaged in the business of developing and marketing promotional campaigns for radio stations to bolster the listener audience.

8. CMM’s promotions are designed and sold on a market-exclusive basis and are effective only if used exclusive of other stations in a particular market area.

9. The market-exclusive concept is standard in the business of radio station promotional campaigns. Radio stations purchasing a promotional campaign generally expect that the seller, such as CMM, will not sell the same campaign to a competing radio station.

10. CMM’s services are marketed nationally to radio stations by mail and personal solicitations, informational brochures, and advertising in trade journals.

11. Two of CMM’s promotions are entitled PAYROLL PAYOFF® and PAYCHECK PAYOFF®, which campaigns have been marketed to and purchased by 33 radio stations in the United States on a market-exclusive basis.

12. PAYROLL PAYOFF® and PAYCHECK PAYOFF® promotions are responsible for more than 30% of CMM’s current revenues and more than 50% of the promotional campaigns it is currently producing.

13. The general concept of the PAYROLL PAYOFF® and PAYCHECK PAYOFF® promotions is to entice a listener to tune into the radio station by promising pay *634 ment of an “hourly wage” by the radio station if the listener calls in after his or her name is selected and read on the air. One name is read each hour during a pre-deter-mined time span. If a listener does not call the radio station in response to his or her name being read over the air, the prior successful caller continues to be paid. This caller gets paid an amount every hour until the next successful caller responds to his or her name being read on the air or until the contest ends. Listeners supply their names to the station in response to direct mail pieces containing mail-in or fax-in forms.

14. CMM owns all right, title and interest in the copyright on the promotional materials, artwork and informational brochures for PAYROLL PAYOFF® and for PAYCHECK PAYOFF®, which embodies the concept and methodology for this promotion. CMM has received from the Register of Copyrights (i) a Certificate of Registration, dated June 1, 1992, No. TX 3 333 965, entitled PAYROLL PAYOFF, and (ii) a Certifícate of Registration dated June 1, 1992, No. TX 3 643 920 entitled PAYCHECK PAYOFF. The “nature of the authorship” for which copyright registration was made for PAYROLL PAYOFF® and PAYCHECK PAYOFF® encompasses the “[e]ntire text and graphic design,” and CMM represented that publication had first occurred in April of 1991.

15. 'CMM owns a federal trademark registration for both PAYROLL PAYOFF® and PAYCHECK PAYOFF®. Registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office was made on January 26, 1993. (PX-3).

16. CMM is paid by its radio station customers to prepare all printed material associated with the promotion and to handle the actual mailing associated with the on-air promotions. Stations will not buy CMM’s products and services absent an exclusive right to the promotion in the broadcast area.

17. Plaintiffs promotion was purchased by Radio Station Magic 93 — WMGS-FM, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on or about August 2, 1994, for $21,875.00, with an addendum contract on September 2, 1994 for $22,-300.00, for a total sale of $44,175.00. That station started its pre-promotion of the campaign on Monday, September 19, 1994, with the actual on-air give aways to commence on Monday, September 26, 1994. The WMGS promotion offers to pay an hourly rate of $25.00 per hour, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except on Thursdays, when $50.00 is the “wage.”

18. KEYMARKET had access to CMM’s copyrighted PAYROLL PAYOFF® and PAYCHECK PAYOFF® materials because CMM provided KEYMARKET with its promotional materials and promotional plans and requested an opportunity to discuss direct marketing opportunities with KEY-MARKET several times in the past.

19. The PAYROLL PAYOFF® promotion was actually sold to KEYMARKET for use at Radio Station WKSE-FM in Buffalo, New York, an affiliate of WKRZ-FM and a KEYMARKET-owned station, for market-exclusive use in the Buffalo area during the Fall 1994 Rating Period. 2

20. The PAYROLL PAYOFF® program is intended to increase a radio station’s audience ratings, which in turn enables a radio station to charge more for advertising time. The Spring and the Fall rating periods are the most important rating periods for a radio station.

21. WKRZ-FM (“KRZ”) and WMGS-FM are competitors for audience and advertisers in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area.

22. KRZ is the dominant radio station in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area.

23. In the Spring of 1994, WMGS, for the first time, secured a larger audience rating than KRZ for the 25 year-old to 54 year-old age group.

24. Prior to August, 1994, defendant Frank Bell was aware of the CMM PAYROLL PAYOFF® promotion and regarded it to be a “syndicated” promotion.

25. During the summer of 1994, Frank Bell authorized Key Market's Radio Station in Buffalo, New York, WKSE-FM, to enter *635

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870 F. Supp. 631, 33 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1321, 1994 WL 677290, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cmm-cable-rep-inc-v-keymarket-communications-inc-pamd-1994.