Dolby v. Robertson

654 F. Supp. 815, 1 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1041, 1986 WL 1180234, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18037
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedNovember 5, 1986
DocketC-86-4907 SC
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 654 F. Supp. 815 (Dolby v. Robertson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dolby v. Robertson, 654 F. Supp. 815, 1 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1041, 1986 WL 1180234, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18037 (N.D. Cal. 1986).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

CONTI, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Ray M. Dolby and Dolby Laboratories complain that defendant Thomas Morgan Robertson has unfairly assumed the stage name “Thomas Dolby”. Plaintiffs have moved for a preliminary injunction. On October 8, 1986, the court denied plaintiffs’ motion for lack of jurisdiction. The matter is before the court on plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration.

The court may enter a preliminary injunction if: (1) the movants have established a strong likelihood of success on the merits; (2) the balance of irreparable harm favors the injunction; and (3) the public interest favors the injunction. People of Village of Gambell v. Hodel, 774 F.2d 1414, 1419 (9th Cir.1985). Since this is a preliminary stage in the case, the court should resolve doubts in favor of denying the injunction.

Plaintiffs seek to enjoin defendant from using the name “Thomas Dolby” in making music for motion pictures. The court determines that this injunction is too harsh. The terms of a final injunction — if any— will depend on defendant’s intent and other matters to be proved at trial. At this preliminary stage, the court will consider only a narrow injunction.

The court determines that the name “Thomas Dolby” is not likely to confuse consumers in a way that will harm plaintiffs. Therefore the court determines that defendant may continue to use the name “Thomas Dolby” in all his performing activities. The court determines, however, that the surname “Dolby” alone is likely to increase confusion. Therefore the court determines that defendant may not use the surname “Dolby” alone.

A. THE PARTIES

Plaintiff Ray Dolby invented a process of noise reduction which allowed cassette tapes to attain high fidelity. Ray Dolby founded Dolby Laboratories, Inc. in 1965. Dolby Laboratories and a subsidiary created the Dolby trademark. Since 1968, most manufacturers of consumer electronic equipment have obtained licenses to use Dolby technology identified by the Dolby trademark. Over 140 million audio cassette and videocassette recorders and players have been sold bearing the Dolby trademark, along with hundreds of millions of cassettes. In addition, over one thousand motion pictures have been produced in Dolby Stereo. This year the Dolby entities may earn a gross income of $27 million.

Defendant Thomas Morgan Robertson was born in 1958 in London. He is a British citizen. Defendant composes and performs popular music, largely on the synthesizer. Defendant performed his first professional concert in 1973. In 1980 he began a solo career. Since 1981 he has made his living in the popular music field. His recordings have sold over two million copies. He has been involved in music videos since 1981. He has appeared on television and has made music for films. The first such film, “Fever Pitch”, was released in November 1985.

Defendant used the name “Thomas Dolby” when he signed his first recording contract in 1981. Defendant has used this stage name ever since. Followers of popu *817 lar music know defendant by this name, and not by the name Thomas Morgan Robertson.

Plaintiffs assert that defendant chose the name “Thomas Dolby” in order to cash in on the image of Dolby Stereo as a leader in sound technology. Defendant claims that “Thomas Dolby” is his childhood nickname.

My name by birth was Thomas Morgan Robertson. When I was at school, my schoolfriends nicknamed me “Thomas Dolby” and by the age of 14, all my friends knew me as Thomas Dolby— I hold a personal bank account in the name Thomas Dolby and correspond both professionally and personally as Thomas Dolby.
Throughout my school career and afterwards, I continued to be known by friends as Thomas Dolby. As I broke into the popular entertainment industry I was still known as Thomas Dolby and it did not seriously occur to me to use any other name____ I felt Thomas Dolby was a distinctive name like “David Bowie”, “Stevie Wonder” and “Ringo Starr” which were names adopted by performers in an effort to individualize their public personae. I also recall that there was a successful performer at the time known as “Tom Robinson” and if I had called myself “Thomas Robertson” there might have been some confusion. It was never my intention to associate myself with the Plaintiffs. I did not believe then and do not believe now that there was any possibility that I would be confused with any of the plaintiffs in this case, and I certainly had no intention of taking advantage of any public recognition that their names might have had.

Declaration of Thomas Dolby, 11113, 4. Two friends of defendant declare that he has been known by the nickname “Thomas Dolby” since he was fourteen. Declaration of John Solomon; Declaration of Lesley Fair-bairn.

Plaintiffs argue that defendant acquired the nickname “Dolby” in school because he was always “messing around” with tape recorders. Second Jasper Declaration, 1110. At that time Dolby noise reduction products were already widespread. Plaintiffs argue that defendant’s nickname is itself a play on the Dolby trademark.

At this stage the court cannot determine why defendant chose the stage name “Thomas Dolby”.

B. THE PROPOSED INJUNCTION

Plaintiffs have brought this action in response to the success of the recent film “Howard the Duck”. Defendant composed the music for “Howard the Duck”. In advertisements for the movie, the name “Thomas Dolby” appears near the “Dolby Stereo” trademark. Plaintiffs argue that this confuses consumers. Defendant recently composed the soundtrack for the film “Gothic”, which is now being mixed. Plaintiffs do not want the credits for that soundtrack to carry the name “Thomas Dolby”.

Defendant has completed his activities on the film “Gothic”. Defendant argues that he no longer has any right to prevent the filmmakers from using the name “Thomas Dolby” in the credits. The court determines that it may be necessary for plaintiffs to join third parties in order to enforce an injunction. Nonetheless, the court determines that it may consider an injunction at this time.

Plaintiffs assert that an injunction is proper at this time because defendant has only recently moved into the field of motion pictures. Plaintiffs argue that “motion picture involvement provides significantly more public exposure than records and music videos.” Plaintiffs’ Reply Memorandum, p. 7. Defendant asserts that he has a longstanding involvement in video generally. The court determines that defendant’s activities are relatively recent, and that the court may consider an injunction at this time.

Plaintiffs submitted a proposed injunction in advance of oral argument. The proposed injunction would apply broadly to three areas of defendant’s activities: (a) recordings, (b) motion pictures, and (c) promotion of sound equipment. The proposed *818 injunction would bar defendant from using the surname “Dolby” alone.

(A) In recordings, the proposed injunction would permit defendant to use the name “Thomas Dolby”, but not the surname “Dolby” alone.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
654 F. Supp. 815, 1 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1041, 1986 WL 1180234, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18037, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dolby-v-robertson-cand-1986.