WorkSteps, Inc. v. ErgoScience, Inc.

88 F. Supp. 3d 752, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116342, 2015 WL 5146885
District Court, W.D. Texas·Decided September 1, 2015·No. Case No. A-14-CA-968-SS·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

ORDER

SAM SPARKS, District Judge.

BE IT REMEMBERED on this day the Court reviewed the file in the above-styled cause, and specifically Defendants ErgoS-cience, Inc., Deborah E. Lechner, and Does (l-300)’s Motion for Partial Reconsideration of Court’s 4/20/15 Order [# 47], Plaintiff WorkSTEPS, Inc.’s Response [# 51] thereto, Plaintiffs Opposed Motion for Leave to File Amended Complaint [# 56], Defendants’ Response [# 60] thereto, and Plaintiffs Reply [# 63] thereto, Defendants’ Motion for Leave to File Sur-reply [# 64],1 Plaintiffs Motion and Memorandum to Consolidate Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 42[# 55], Defendants’ Response [# 61] thereto, and Plaintiffs Reply [# 62] thereto, Plaintiffs Consented Motion for Extension of Time to File Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Reconsideration [#49],2 and Defendants’ Unopposed Motion to Extend Response Deadlines [# 57].3

On April 20, 2015, the Court entered an order granting in part and denying in part the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment in this action.4 See Apr. 20, 2015 Order [# 43]. Following entry of the April 20, 2015 Order, Defendants filed the instant motion for partial reconsideration of same. Having reviewed the documents, the governing law, and the file as a whole, the Court finds Defendants’ motion for reconsideration should be GRANTED, and orders those portions of the April 20, 2015 [755] Order inconsistent with this opinion be VACATED.

Background

This is an action for copyright infringement and breach of contract brought by Plaintiff WorkSTEPS, Inc. against Defendants ErgoScience, Inc., Deborah Lechner, President.of ErgoScience, and Does 1-300, unknown alleged third-party infringers, for alleged willful, contributory, and induced infringement in violation of a consent judgment and settlement agreement. Work-STEPS is a national provider of “functional employment testing,” a type of testing designed to evaluate the physical abilities of job applicants and new employees such that workers’ jobs are matched to their physical capabilities, decreasing the likelihood of job-related injuries. ErgoScience is also a provider of functional employment testing and directly competes with Work-STEPS.

WorkSTEPS holds a copyright in various materials related to its testing programs under Copyright Registration Number TXu000942472. The two copyrighted documents at issue in this case are WorkSTEPS’ “Functional Capacity Evaluation,” a twelve-page form that guides WorkSTEPS’ providers through administration of WorkSTEPS’ functional employment test and provides space for recording the results as the test proceeds, and WorkSTEPS’ “Medical History” form, a questionnaire apparently given prior to administration of the Functional Capacity Evaluation (together, the WorkSTEPS Materials).

This is the second time WorkSTEPS has brought suit in this Court alleging ErgoS-cience has infringed its copyright.5 Although the original infringement suit, cause number A:10-CA-850-SS (the Original Suit), was dismissed by consent judgment in July of 2012, two years later, attorney error and the parties’ inability to resolve the disagreement caused by that error spurred further litigation. Work-STEPS filed the present action, cause number A:14-CA-968-SS, in October of 2014. A brief history of the parties’ dispute is outlined below.

A. The Original Suit

In the Original Suit, WorkSTEPS claimed ErgoScience, Lechner, and Donna Johnston, an ErgoScience employee not party to the present action, infringed WorkSTEPS’ copyright by incorporating portions of the WorkSTEPS Materials into ErgoScience’s testing materials. After completing discovery, the parties to the Original Suit informed the Court they had settled the case. Under the parties’ settlement agreement, the defendants agreed to pay WorkSTEPS $75,000 and to cease using WorkSTEPS’ copyrighted materials. Mot. Order Show Cause [# 39-9] (sealed), Feeler Deck, Ex. 3 (Settlement Agreement) at 3, Original Suit.6 On July 26, 2012, the parties jointly moved the Court for entry of a consent judgment against the defendants. Agreed Stipulation [# 31] at 1-2, Original Suit. On July 30, 2012, the Court entered the consent judgment as drafted by the parties on July 30, 2012. [756] Consent Judgment [#32] at 2, Original Suit.

During settlement discussions in the Original Suit, the parties negotiated a “safe harbor” — a bundle of ErgoScience materials which WorkSTEPS reviewed and agreed “d[id] not infringe Work-STEPS’ copyright rights.” Settlement Agreement at 5. In the Settlement Agreement, WorkSTEPS expressly waived any infringement claims based on ErgoScience’s use of the safe harbor materials. Id.; see Mot. Order Show Cause [# 39-8] (sealed), Feeler Decl., Ex. 2 (Safe Harbor) at 3, Original Suit. Unfortunately, a serious miscommunication occurred during the safe harbor negotiations. During Work-STEPS’ final review of the proposed safe harbor, WorkSTEPS “redlined,” or electronically crossed out, certain portions of the ErgoScience materials, indicating WorkSTEPS did not agree to inclusion of those portions in the final safe harbor. See Defs.’ Resp. Mot. Order Show Cause [# 54] (sealed) at 1, Original Suit. The electronic redlines did not electronically delete any material from the document; rather, the redlines are visually analogous to a strikethrough created with a pen or pencil through an image or line of text on a piece of paper. See Mot. Dismiss [# 8] at 10 (showing examples of the redlined material). Having created the redlines, WorkSTEPS then sent the redlined version of the safe harbor to ErgoScience via' email. Counsel for ErgoScience printed and reviewed the safe harbor — but, apparently due to the configuration of certain printing settings in Adobe Acrobat (counsel’s PDF reader), WorkSTEPS’ electronic redlines did not appear on the printed document. Id. at 1-2.

Believing WorkSTEPS had agreed to the proposed safe harbor without redlining anything, counsel for ErgoScience confirmed the same to his client — and “re-lyi[ng] on its lawyer’s confirmation that the ‘safe harbor’ materials had been fully approved by WorkSTEPS,” ErgoScience signed the Settlement Agreement and proceeded to use all of the safe harbor materials in its regular business activities, including the portions counsel for ErgoScience was not aware WorkSTEPS had redlined. Id. at 2; see also Mot. Order Show Cause [# 39-16] (sealed), Feeler Decl., Ex. 10(July 31, 2013 Letter) at 1-2, Original Suit (letter from Brandon Browning, then-counsel for ErgoScience, to counsel for WorkSTEPS explaining the error).

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WorkSteps, Inc. v. ErgoScience, Inc., 88 F. Supp. 3d 752, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116342, 2015 WL 5146885 (W.D. Tex. 2015).

88 F. Supp. 3d 752 (WorkSteps, Inc. v. ErgoScience, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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