Edison Bros. Stores, Inc. v. Broadcast Music, Inc.

760 F. Supp. 767, 19 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1453, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4357, 1991 WL 46704
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedApril 3, 1991
Docket90-328C(1)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 760 F. Supp. 767 (Edison Bros. Stores, Inc. v. Broadcast Music, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edison Bros. Stores, Inc. v. Broadcast Music, Inc., 760 F. Supp. 767, 19 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1453, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4357, 1991 WL 46704 (E.D. Mo. 1991).

Opinion

760 F.Supp. 767 (1991)

EDISON BROTHERS STORES, INC., Plaintiff,
v.
BROADCAST MUSIC, INC., Defendant.

No. 90-328C(1).

United States District Court, E.D. Missouri, E.D.

April 3, 1991.

*768 Robert Haar, William Kohlburn, Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum, St. Louis, Mo., Michael A. Kahn, Katharine Livingston, J. Daniel Sharp, Folger & Levin, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff.

George Luberda, Caruthers, Herzog, Crebs & McGhee, St. Louis, Mo., Jonathan Zavin, Scott Martin, Richards & O'Neil, New York City, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM

NANGLE, District Judge.

A. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff brought this action for declaratory judgment, requesting the Court to declare that the employee radio policy of Edison Brothers Stores, Inc. ("Edison") falls within the "homestyle exception" of the Copyright Law of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 110(5), and that Edison is under no obligation to pay licensing fees for the playing of music on consumer radio equipment by employees in its stores. Defendant Broadcast Music, Inc. ("BMI") asserts that Edison employees' radio use is not exempted, and that Edison should pay BMI a license fee for this alleged commercial and public performance broadcast of copyrighted musical recordings held by BMI as assignee of the public performance rights of the composers and publishers of the music.

This matter is before the Court on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment, and their repeated representations that the matter can and should be disposed of on summary judgment. The essential facts of this case are not in dispute. Edison owns and operates approximately 2,500 shops selling shoes and apparel nationwide. These retail stores range in size from approximately 850 to 1200 square feet of selling space. Edison provides each store with one radio receiver unit and two box speakers, and prohibits its employees from playing tapes, cassettes, compact discs or anything else besides the radio in the store. BMI challenges this practice as a broadcast to the public of the radio programming, *769 and since many of the songs heard on the radio are protected by BMI as assignee of the broadcast rights, then BMI wants Edison to buy a license to play its songs on the radio in Edison's stores.

B. SUMMARY JUDGMENT

In determining whether summary judgment should issue, the facts and inferences from these facts are viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and the burden is placed on the moving party to establish both the absence of a genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1355-56, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Once the moving party has met this burden, however, the non-moving party may not rest on the allegations in its pleadings but by affidavit and other evidence must set forth specific facts showing that a genuine issue of material fact exists. Fed.R. Civ.P. 56(e). See also 10A C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2739 (1983).

Recently, the Supreme Court noted that: "Summary judgment procedure is properly regarded not as a disfavored procedural shortcut, but rather as an integral part of the federal rules as a whole, which are designed to `secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action'." Celotex, 477 U.S. at 327, 106 S.Ct. at 2555 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 1). Thus, the non-moving party "must do more than show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586, 106 S.Ct. at 1355. "Where the record as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no `genuine issue for trial'." Id. at 587, 106 S.Ct. at 1356. The Eighth Circuit has acknowledged that the "trilogy of recent Supreme Court opinions" demonstrates that the courts should be "more hospitable to summary judgments than in the past" and that a motion for summary judgment "can be a tool of great utility in removing factually insubstantial cases from crowded dockets, freeing courts' trial time for those cases that really do raise genuine issues of material fact." City of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa v. Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc., 838 F.2d 268, 273 (8th Cir.1988).

C. DISCUSSION

The Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq. ("Copyright Act"), gives a copyright holder certain exclusive rights in his or her copyrighted works, including the exclusive rights of public performance of musical works. See 17 U.S.C. § 106(4). However, there is an exception to the above rule found in 17 U.S.C. § 110(5), involving the reception and public playing of music broadcast over the airwaves, on simple equipment and in such a manner that duplicates the reception and playing of the radio by a private person in his own home (the "homestyle exception"). Title 17, section 110 states in pertinent part:

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106 [of this title], the following are not infringements of copyright:
* * * * * *
(5) communication of a transmission embodying a performance or display of a work by the public reception of the transmission on a single receiving apparatus of a kind commonly used in private homes, unless —
(A) a direct charge is made to see or hear the transmission; or
(B) the transmission thus received is further transmitted to the public; * * *

Edison has attempted to comply with the above requirements by imposing and enforcing in each of its stores the following radio usage policy ("Radio Policy"):

1. Only simple, low grade radio-only receivers are to be used.
2. Only two speakers may be attached to a radio receiver.
3. The speakers must be placed within 15 feet of the receiver.
*770 4. Speakers that are built into the walls or ceilings must not be used. Only portable box speakers are allowed.
5.

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760 F. Supp. 767, 19 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1453, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4357, 1991 WL 46704, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edison-bros-stores-inc-v-broadcast-music-inc-moed-1991.