Corwin v. Quinonez

858 F. Supp. 2d 903, 102 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1178, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32299, 2012 WL 832600
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedMarch 12, 2012
DocketCase No. 3:10 CV 2163
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 858 F. Supp. 2d 903 (Corwin v. Quinonez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corwin v. Quinonez, 858 F. Supp. 2d 903, 102 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1178, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32299, 2012 WL 832600 (N.D. Ohio 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

KATZ, District Judge.

Plaintiff Michael Corwin brings this action for a declaratory judgment and accounting of profits against Defendant Wesley Quinonez. Plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment that he and Defendant are joint owners of thirty-one songs created during their membership in the band “Rediscover.” Further, Plaintiff contends that as joint authors, he and Defendant are co-owners of the copyrights for the songs at issue, and that he is therefore entitled to an accounting of any profits Defendant has derived therefrom. Defendant counterclaimed for a declaration that he is the sole author and sole owner of the songs in question, and further counterclaimed for an accounting of any profits Plaintiff derived from the songs.

The matter is currently before the Court on Defendant’s motion for summary judgment as to the parties’ competing requests for a declaration of authorship. (Doe. 30). For the reasons stated herein, Defendant’s [905]*905motion is granted and Plaintiffs complaint is dismissed.1

I. Background

Defendant is the founder and original member of Rediscover. Defendant styles Rediscover’s music as “electro-pop;” i.e., pop music that is predominately created electronically, but that may also include vocal and instrumental components. Prior to Plaintiffs membership, Defendant, as the sole member of Rediscover, had “written, produced, performed,” and was selling a compact disc (“CD”) album titled “The Ocean is Calling Us.” (Plaintiffs Deposition, Doc. 46 at 21:10-22:11) (hereinafter, “Pi’s. Dep.”). Plaintiff joined Rediscover in January 2005 and remained a member through June 2008. In addition to Plaintiff and Defendant, Rediscover included band members Robert Wagner and Daaren Davis.

During Plaintiffs membership, Rediscover went on tour, had a short-lived relationship with a record label (Unborn Media Records, d/b/a One Big Spark, (hereinafter, “One Big Spark,” or “the record label”)), and recorded three albums: “Out of Touch,”2 “Call Me When You Get This,”3 and “Sleepless Nights.”4 Additionally, a fourth album, “Lost Songs,”5 was produced sometime after Plaintiffs membership ended. Combined, these four albums include the thirty-one songs currently in dispute, as reflected by a stipulation the parties filed with the Court. (Doc. 51).

The first two albums, “Out of Touch” and “Call Me When You Get This,” were both recorded in Defendant’s basement studio using recording equipment and computer software provided by Defendant. “Out of Touch” was finished sometime in 2005, and “Call Me When You Get This” was finished sometime in 2006. The parties disagree about the extent of Plaintiffs input and control over the writing and recording process, but with the exception of three songs — “Dance Transylvania,” “I Consume You,” and “Baby Got Her Gun Out” — Plaintiff agrees that Defendant independently programed and recorded each basic electronic song using music production software called FL Studio. Once the basic song was created, Plaintiff and Defendant collaborated on how Plaintiff could perform live instrumental components on top of the basic track. For “Dance Transylvania,” “I Consume You,” and “Baby Got Her Gun Out,” Plaintiff apparently contends that he brought the original idea for these songs to Defendant,6 but con[906]*906cedes that he had no working knowledge of FL Studio during the production of the first album, and only limited knowledge during production of the second.

Sometime prior to production of the third album, “Sleepless Nights,” Rediscover became affiliated with the record label One Big Spark. “Sleepless Nights” was subsequently recorded with the assistance of the label.7 In addition to pre-production work in Baltimore, Defendant again independently programmed and recorded each of the basic electronic songs for “Sleepless Nights” using FL Studio. Plaintiff, Defendant, and band members Robert Wagner and Daaron Davis then traveled to Florida to finish recording the album alongside record producer Pete Thornton. As with the previous two albums, the four band members collaborated on how to add instrumental and vocal components to the already existing tracks. Moreover, Plaintiff and Defendant worked with Thornton on technical production aspects throughout recording.

At some point after the Florida recording sessions it was determined that portions of the album were unsatisfactory. It is unclear from the briefs who made this determination but, in any event, Defendant traveled to Boston to re-master the album with producers from One Big Spark. While there, Defendant re-wrote portions of songs and altered or omitted portions of the other band members’ contributions, including Plaintiffs. Neither Plaintiff nor the other two band members traveled to Boston or otherwise participated in the remastering process, though they were aware of Defendant’s activities.

At some point after the re-mastering process, Rediscover’s affiliation with One Big Spark “fell apart” in 2008. Despite this, One Big Spark agreed to give the final master recordings to Rediscover for the band’s use.

The recording process for, and Plaintiffs involvement in, the final album, “Lost Songs,” is unclear, as the parties’ briefs do not mention the album by name. What is clear is that Plaintiffs membership in Rediscover ended in mid-2008, apparently before “Lost Songs” was recorded. Even so, the parties’ stipulation lists the “Lost Songs” album and each of its eleven songs as disputed. (Doc. 51). Moreover, Plaintiffs affidavit enumerates contributions he made to ten of the album’s eleven songs.

In addition to the parties’ above-described involvement in the recording process, it should be noted that several songs were registered with Broadcast Music, Inc. (“BMI”), a performance rights society that manages licensing negotiations for the music of member composers. Specifically, composers can register songs with BMI, and BMI then “negotiates blanket licenses which grant the operator of a bar, radio station, etc., the right to play any of the thousands of songs in [BMI’s] stable for a fixed fee. BMI distributes 80 percent of the money received for such licenses back [907]*907to the composers based on the popularity of their songs.” Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Star Amusements, 44 F.3d 485, 486 (7th Cir.1995). In this case, “Baby Got Her Gun Out,” “Shake It,” “Do You Think,” and “Kiss Me” were registered with BMI in four equal shares — one share for each of Rediscover’s four members — so that each band member would receive an equal portion of the royalties. It is unclear who registered these four songs, but Plaintiff stated at deposition that band member Robert Wagner was the first to begin BMI registrations, and that Defendant also registered songs.8 (Pl’s. Dep. at 140:18-141:1).

Finally, on December 13, 2010 — after Plaintiff filed this lawsuit — -Defendant secured four copyright registrations, one for each of the four albums at issue.9 (Doc. 31-1 at 1-12). All four registrations denote “Wesley James Quinonez, dba Rediscover” as the author and copyright claimant, and state that Quinonez dba Rediscover created the “sound recording, music, [and] lyrics” for all four albums. Id.

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858 F. Supp. 2d 903, 102 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1178, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32299, 2012 WL 832600, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corwin-v-quinonez-ohnd-2012.