Herbert v. United States

36 Fed. Cl. 299, 1996 U.S. Claims LEXIS 146, 1996 WL 451018
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 9, 1996
DocketNo. 92-672 C
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 36 Fed. Cl. 299 (Herbert v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Herbert v. United States, 36 Fed. Cl. 299, 1996 U.S. Claims LEXIS 146, 1996 WL 451018 (uscfc 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

MOODY R. TIDWELL, III, Judge.

This is a suit for monetary damages for copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-1101 (1994) (the Copyright Act). This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1498(b) (1994). For the reasons set forth below, the court finds for defendant and dismisses the complaint.

FACTS

I. Background of the Case

This case arose out of a contract (the ’2204 contract) entered into in 1980 between the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a governmental agency, and the National Academy of Sciences (the Academy), a private, non-governmental corporation. Under the contract, the Academy was to develop the 10th Edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (the 10th RDA). In 1980, the Academy empaneled the Committee on Dietary Allowances (the Committee or the Ka-min Committee), a volunteer committee of which plaintiff was a member, to help prepare the 10th RDA During the ensuing five years, plaintiff wrote and submitted three written works (the Herbert works) to the Committee — chapters on iron, folate, and vitamin B12 — for inclusion in the 10th RDA. In 1985, the Committee submitted its final draft of the 10th RDA to the Academy. However, due to a disagreement between the Academy and the Committee, the Academy chose not to deliver the draft to NIH. Instead, it rejected the draft, dissolved the Kamin Committee, and reported to NIH its inability to submit the 10th RDA. Plaintiff later published revised versions of his contributions to the Kamin Committee as articles in a 1987 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (the AJCN articles).

By March 1986, the Academy was at risk of defaulting under its contract with NIH. Consequently, NIH presented the Academy with three options: (1) recreate the report; (2) submit the existing draft with a full explanation of the relevant disputes; or (3) terminate the contract and return to NIH all of the funds paid to the Academy. Not surprisingly, the Academy chose to satisfy option number two, and submit the previously rejected draft. About a year later, after approval and edit of the final draft, NIH decided to publish the 10th RDA NIH entered into a second contract with the Academy to “review, revise, and update” the draft. The Academy did so through the formation of a new committee, the Havel Subcommittee, which did not include plaintiff. This second contract was modified in 1991 with the addition of a clause whereby the United States government gave authorization and consent for any copyright infringement by the Academy. In October 1989, the Academy completed the task and submitted a final copy of the 10th RDA to NIH. The Academy then copyrighted the work in its own name and sold copies to the general public. At this time in October 1989, plaintiff obtained certificates of copyright registration in his own name for his contributions to the Kamin Committee manuscript, indicating 1985 as the date of creation.

II. Procedural History

In 1990, plaintiff filed a copyright infringement action against the Academy in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The district court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the ease because plaintiffs case was not against the Academy, but rather against the United States since the United States had assumed liability for any infringement by virtue of the authorization and consent clause which had been added to the second contract. Herbert v. National Academy of Sciences, No. Civ A. 90-361, 1991 WL 387901, at *3-4 (D.D.C. May 22, 1991). The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed this decision. Herbert v. National Academy of Sciences, 974 F.2d 192, 201 (D.C.Cir.1992).

[303]*303Plaintiff subsequently filed an action in this court, alleging jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1498(b). In a peculiar motion, plaintiff initially suggested that this court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case. In an Order filed June 27, 1994, this court ruled that by the modification to the second contract, the United States had assumed liability for any breach of copyright by the Academy and that this court’s jurisdiction was thus proper. Defendant then filed a motion for summary judgment, and plaintiff filed a motion for voluntary dismissal of Counts IV, V, and VI of his complaint.1 The court denied the summary judgment motion, ruling that several issues of material fact existed. Herbert v. United States, 32 Fed.Cl. 293, 300 (1994). Plaintiff’s motion for voluntary dismissal, however, was granted. Id. Defendant filed a motion for reconsideration which plaintiff opposed, and to which plaintiff attached a motion for sanctions. Trial was held from February 12-14, 1996. The parties then submitted post-trial briefs, and this court now renders judgment on the evidence presented.

DISCUSSION

I. Plaintiffs Prima Facie Case: Copyright Infringement

To establish copyright infringement, plaintiff must prove (1) ownership of a valid copyright, and (2) copying by the alleged infringer. Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 361, 111 S.Ct. 1282, 1295-96, 113 L.Ed.2d 358 (1991). Under the Copyright Act, copyright ownership “vests initially in the author or authors of a work.” 17 U.S.C. § 201(a). The author is the person or persons who created the work. Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730, 737, 109 S.Ct. 2166, 2171, 104 L.Ed.2d 811 (1989). The parties do not dispute that Dr. Herbert is the creator of the works on vitamin B12, iron, and folate which are at issue here. Exs. 2-3, 5-6, 8-9. Thus, under section 201 he is presumed to be the owner of copyrights in those works.

Copyrights are presumptively valid, and a certificate of copyright registration is considered prima facie evidence of a valid copyright. 17 U.S.C. § 410(c); Norma Ribbon & Trimming, Inc. v. Little, 51 F.3d 45, 47 (5th Cir.1995). By producing certificates of copyright registration for his contributions to the 10th RDA listing 1985 as the date of creation, plaintiff has established ownership of presumptively valid copyrights. Exs. 1, 4, 7.

Considering the second element of infringement, plaintiff claims that his works were copied in the 10th RDA Copying may be shown either by direct evidence, or by showing that defendant had access to the copyrighted materials and that there is substantial similarity between the alleged infringing publication and the copyrighted publication. Twin Peaks Prods., Inc. v. Publications Int’l, Ltd., 996 F.2d 1366, 1372 (2d Cir.1993); Marshburn v.

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36 Fed. Cl. 299, 1996 U.S. Claims LEXIS 146, 1996 WL 451018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herbert-v-united-states-uscfc-1996.