Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin

106 F. Supp. 3d 581, 114 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1728, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59113, 2015 WL 2116632
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided May 6, 2015·No. Civil Action No. 14-3089·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JUAN R. SÁNCHEZ, District Judge.

Plaintiff Michael Skidmore, as trustee for the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust, brings claims for direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement against the living members of the band Led Zeppelin (James Patrick “Jimmy” Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones) and various music industry companies associated with Led Zeppelin. The corporate Defendants are (1) Super Hype Publishing, Inc., a [584] publishing company owned and managed by Page that publishes the musical compositions of Led Zeppelin and Page; (2) Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., a global music publishing company that publishes and administers Super Hype’s catalog of songs, including Led Zeppelin’s music; (3) Atlantic Recording Corporation, the record company that manufactured, sold, and distributed Led Zeppelin IV, the album containing the allegedly infringing song “Stairway to Heaven” and the owner of the master recordings of Led Zeppelin TV •and “Stairway to Heaven”; (4) Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG), the parent company of Defendants Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Atlantic Recording Corporation, and Rhino Entertainment Company; and (5) Rhino Entertainment Company, a company that develops WMG’s catalog of artists in the United States and provides support and assistance to the WMG’s frontline labels.

Defendants have moved to either dismiss or transfer the case to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division. For the following reasons, Defendants’ motions will be granted.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff alleges Led Zeppelin copied significant portions of its iconic 1971 song “Stairway to Heaven” from Randy Craig Wolfe’s copyrighted guitar composition “Taurus,” and that all of the Defendants have exploited and continue to exploit “Taurus” as “Stairway to Heaven.” Plaintiff sues all Defendants for direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement and also brings a claim for equitable relief in the form of an order directing Defendants and the Copyright Office to include Wolfe as a writer of “Stairway to Heaven.”

Defendants filed motions to dismiss or transfer the case, one on behalf of the individual Defendants (Page, Plant, and Jones) and the other on behalf of the corporate Defendants. All Defendants ask this Court to dismiss this case for lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2). The corporate Defendants also ask the Court to either dismiss the case for improper venue pursuant to Rule 12(b)(3) and 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a) or to transfer the case to the Central District of California, where three of the five corporate Defendants have their principal places of business and where all Defendants consent to jurisdiction and venue. If the Court finds jurisdiction and venue are proper in this District, all Defendants ask the Court to transfer the case to the Central District of California “[fjor the convenience of parties and witnesses” and “in the interest of justice” pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Plaintiff opposes the motions and, in the event that the Court requires more facts to resolve the personal jurisdiction issue, seeks leave to conduct jurisdictional discovery.

DISCUSSION

Venue in a copyright action is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 1400(a), which provides that an action under the federal copyright laws “may be instituted in the district in which the defendant or his agent resides or may be found.” A defendant in a copyright action “may be found” wherever the defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction; thus, “venue in a copyright action is proper in any judicial district in which the defendant would be amenable to personal jurisdiction if the district were a separate state.” Blackburn v. Walker Oriental Rug Galleries, Inc., 999 F.Supp. 636, 638 (E.D.Pa.1998) (citations omitted).

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Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin, 106 F. Supp. 3d 581, 114 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1728, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59113, 2015 WL 2116632 (E.D. Pa. 2015).

106 F. Supp. 3d 581 (Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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