Hill v. Public Advocate of United States

35 F. Supp. 3d 1347, 2014 WL 1293524, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43658
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 31, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 12-cv-02550-WYD-KMT
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 35 F. Supp. 3d 1347 (Hill v. Public Advocate of United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Public Advocate of United States, 35 F. Supp. 3d 1347, 2014 WL 1293524, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43658 (D. Colo. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

Wiley Y. Daniel, Senior U.S. District Judge

THIS MATTER is before the Court on defendant, Public Advocate of the United States’ Motion To Dismiss Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint [ECF No. 101] and defendants, National Association for Gun Rights, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, Lucius O’Dell, Andrew Brown, and Dudley Brown’s Motion To Dismiss The First Amended Complaint [ECF No. 106]. For the reasons stated below, the motions are GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

BACKGROUND

On May 29, 2013, plaintiffs, Kristina Hill, Brian Edwards, and Thomas Privi-tere (collectively “the Plaintiffs”) filed their First Amended Complaint [ECF No. 92] asserting a copyright infringement claim pursuant to the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101, et seq., against defendants, Public Advocate of the United States (“Public Advocate”), National Association for Gun Rights (“NAGR”), Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (“Rocky Mountain”), Lucius O’Dell, Andrew Brown, and Dudley Brown (collectively “the Defendants”), and asserting a Colorado state law appropriation of name or likeness tort claim against Public Advocate and Rocky Mountain.

Edwards and Privitere are a homosexual, married couple living in West Orange, New Jersey. Hill is Edwards’ college friend and a professional wedding photographer. Edwards and Privitere became engaged on December 7, 2009, and were married in a civil ceremony on October 17, 2010. In January 2010, they started a [1352]*1352blog to celebrate their engagement and disseminate information regarding their upcoming marriage. In May 2010, Edwards and Privitere hired Hill to take engagement photos. One engagement photo depicts Edwards and Privitere holding hands and kissing each other on the lips in a park next to the East River in New York City (“the photo”). ECF No. 92, p. 3. Edwards and Privitere are in the foreground and in the background the viewer can see the historic Brooklyn Bridge and skyscrapers in downtown/lower Manhattan, New York City, New York. With Hill’s permission, Edwards and Privi-tere posted the photo on their blog.

Public Advocate opposes “[s]ame sex marriage and the furtherance of so called ‘Gay Rights.’ ” See, About Us, http://www. publicadvocateusa.org/abouV. In the Spring of 2012, approximately 3,000 Colorado residents received a political advertisement in which the portion of the photo depicting Edwards and Privitere kissing was superimposed on a mailer with snow-covered pine trees in the background and a caption reading, “State Senator Jean White’s Idea Of ‘Family Values?’ ” ECF No. 92, p. 4. The mailer refers to Jean White, Republican State Senator for Colorado’s 8th District. At the time the mailer was issued, White was in a primary race against another Republican for the 8th District’s Senate seat and White had supported a bill that would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions. On the back of the mailer, Public Advocate is listed as the sender and the mailer includes Public Advocate’s physical address and web address. Around-that same time, approximately 4,400 Colorado residents received a different political advertisement in which the same portion of the photo depicting Edwards and Privitere kissing was superimposed on a mailer with white clouds in the background and a caption reading, “Jeffrey Hare’s Vision For Weld County?” ECF No. 92, p. 5. The mailer refers to Jeffrey Hare, who at the time was a Republican candidate for Colorado’s House District 48 seat and supported same-sex marriage. As with the mailer regarding Senator Jean White, Public Advocate is listed as the sender and the mailer includes Public Advocate’s physical address and web address.

The Plaintiffs allege that while both mailers only list Public Advocate as the sender, the mailers were a joint project between Public Advocate, NAGR, and Rocky Mountain. The Plaintiffs allege that Dudley Brown, Rocky Mountain’s Executive Director and NAGR’s Executive Vice President, O’Dell, NAGR’s Director of Operations, and Andrew Brown, a member of NAGR’s Creative Department, created the mailers and coordinated their distribution. The Plaintiffs further allege that: (1) Hill owns a registered copyright for the photo; (2) the Defendants neither requested nor received authorization to use the photo; and, (3) the mailers do not provide a photo credit to Hill. The Plaintiffs argue that the Defendants’ actions constitute copyright infringement and unlawful appropriation of Edwards and Privi-tere’s name and likeness.

On June 26, 2013, Public Advocate filed a Motion To Dismiss [ECF .No. 101] arguing that: (1) the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States bars the Plaintiffs’ appropriation of name or likeness tort claim; and, (2) the fair use doctrine bars the Plaintiffs’ copyright infringement claim. On July 26, 2013, Andrew and Dudley Brown, NAGR, O’Dell, and Rocky Mountain filed a Motion To Dismiss First Amended Complaint [ECF No. 107] presenting similar arguments and also stating that New Jersey law governs the Plaintiffs’ appropriation of name or likeness tort claim.

[1353]*1353ANALYSIS

A. Legal Standard for a Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Federal Rule Of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6)

Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) provides that a defendant may move to dismiss a claim for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” “The court’s function on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion is not to weigh potential evidence that the parties might present at trial, but to assess whether the plaintiffs complain alone is legally sufficient to state a claim for which relief may be granted.” Dubbs v. Head Start, Inc., 336 F.3d 1194, 1201 (10th Cir.2003) (citations and quotation marks omitted). “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

In ruling on a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), I “ ‘must accept all the well-pleaded allegations of the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.’ ” David v. City and County of Denver, 101 F.3d 1344, 1352 (10th Cir.1996), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 858, 118 S.Ct. 157, 139 L.Ed.2d 102 (1997) (citations omitted). The plaintiff “must ‘nudge [][his] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible.’ ” Dennis v. Watco Co., Inc., 631 F.3d 1303, 1305 (10th Cir.2011) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). Conclusory allegations are not sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss. Gallagher v. Shelton, 587 F.3d 1063, 1068 (10th Cir. 2009); see also Twombly, 550 U.S. at 546, 127 S.Ct.

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35 F. Supp. 3d 1347, 2014 WL 1293524, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-public-advocate-of-united-states-cod-2014.