Faulkner v. National Geographic Society

576 F. Supp. 2d 609, 88 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1830, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69572
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 15, 2008
Docket97 CIV 09361(LAK), 02 CIV 6623(LAK)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 576 F. Supp. 2d 609 (Faulkner v. National Geographic Society) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Faulkner v. National Geographic Society, 576 F. Supp. 2d 609, 88 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1830, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69572 (S.D.N.Y. 2008).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

LEWIS A. KAPLAN, District Judge.

These actions were brought by free lance photographers whose worked appeared in the National Geographic Magazine against its publisher, the National Geographic Society (“NGS”) and others, principally for copyright infringement and breach of contract. Their theory was that the reproduction of the work they had sold or licensed for use in the print edition of the magazine in a CD-ROM 1 version infringed their copyrights in the photographs or required additional payment as a matter of contract.

In a series of decisions, both this Court and the Court of Appeals have rejected these claims. 2 The principal holding was that the NGS, as holder of copyright in collective works (the print edition of the magazine) was privileged by Section 201(e) of the Copyright Act of 1976 (the “Act”) 3 to reproduce the photographs in the CD-ROM edition because that edition was a “revision” of the print version within the meaning of the statute. What remains for trial is only the federal copyright infringement claim of plaintiff Psihoyos 4 with respect to the appearance of five photographs in the CD-ROM version, known as The Complete National Geographic (the “CNG”). Psihoyos claims that the agreements under which he granted the NGS the right to use the photographs in the magazine negated the presumption, established by Section 201(c), that the NGS was entitled to use them also in the CNG.

Defendants now move in limine to (1) limit the scope of plaintiffs potential damages to actual damages and to preclude him from seeking punitive damages and introducing evidence as to the issue of wilfulness, (2) to preclude plaintiff from offering evidence that (a) the CNG encourages users to “cut and paste” images from the CD-ROMs, and (b) one annual edition of the CNG contained an end user license agreement (“EULA”), inserted by a third party and later recalled by the NGS, that allegedly granted the user the right to use images extracted from the CD-ROM, and (3) to preclude much of the opinion of plaintiffs expert, Henri Dauman any evidence of damages using punitive multipliers.

I. Punitive Damages and Evidence of Wilfulness

Section 504 of the Act, 5 permits a copyright holder to recover “actual damages” or, in certain instances, statutory damages. 6 The Second Circuit has made abundantly clear that “[pjunitive damages *613 are not available in statutory copyright infringement actions.” 7 The Nimmers have characterized the principal case upon which plaintiff relies for the contrary proposition as a “rogue decision [that] should not be followed.” 8 Accordingly, the plaintiffs punitive damages claim is stricken.

Plaintiff contends also that wilfulness nevertheless is at issue because it is an element of his infringement case. He argues that:

“Defendant asserts that this case is equivalent to an agreeable seller and an agreeable buyer negotiating at arms’ length who simply could not reach mutually agreeable terms. This is an inaccurate, at the very least disputed, recitation of the facts. The evidence at trial will establish that Plaintiff does not sell his work in perpetuity, does not engage in so-called ‘buy out’ sales, and specifically refused to do so in this case. That fact was known to defendant. As a result, the Photographs at issue were expropriated, willfully infringed.” 9

But this misses the point.

Copyright infringement is a strict liability wrong in the sense that a plaintiff need not prove wrongful intent or culpability in order to prevail:

“There are two basic elements to a copyright infringement action: (1) ownership of a valid copyright by plaintiff, and (2) copying by the defendant. The second element is generally established by a showing that the defendant had access to the copyrighted work and that there is a substantial similarity of protectable material between the two works.” 10

Even an innocent copier — for example, one who copies in the belief that the infringed work is in the public domain or without realizing that he or she is copying — is liable although lack of culpability may bear on statutory damages where those are in issue. 11 The fact that the measure of actual damages here may well be a reasonable license fee, assuming a willing licensor and a willing licensee, is quite beside the point. In consequence, there is no proper role for proof of wilfulness. Its only function would be in service of an attempt by plaintiff to prejudice the jury’s assessment of damages and, if it proves to be in issue, liability by portraying defendants in an unflattering light.

Accordingly, the evidence is not relevant because it would not make any fact at issue here more or less probable that it would be in its absence. 12 And even if the evidence had some probative value on a question of consequence, its unfair prejudicial effect would outweigh it substantially. 13

*614 II. The EULA and “Cut and Paste” Capability

It appears to be common ground that Encore Software, which began manufacturing and distributing the CNG in 2001 but which now is in bankruptcy, inserted the EULA into the CDROMs for CNG 112, the edition for the last year in which the product was distributed. The EULA would have licensed users of the CDROMs to extract and use images from the product.

NGS contends that the insertion of the EULA was a mistake and that it was done without NGS’s authorization and consent. There appears to be no dispute that NGS, upon discovering what had occurred, halted distribution, ordered a recall of the product, and required Encore to send a notice to all identifiable end users who purchased the product containing the EULA. The notice informed recipients of the error, enclosed a corrected EULA, and offered a refund to customers who did not accept the terms of the corrected agreement.

So far as “cutting and pasting” is concerned, putting to one side the issue whether an end user who took advantage of any such capability would be licensed to do so, the Court understands NGS’s position to be that there is nothing in the software that promotes, encourages or even facilitates “cutting and pasting” images and that the evidence in question is entirely irrelevant. According to NGS, in order to “cut and paste” an image from the CD-ROM, the user must (1) close the program and stop the CNG

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Bluebook (online)
576 F. Supp. 2d 609, 88 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1830, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faulkner-v-national-geographic-society-nysd-2008.