Case: 12-57302, 05/18/2015, ID: 9540348, DktEntry: 197-1, Page 10 of 42
10
GARCIA V. GOOGLE
one billion visitors per month.2 After it was translated into
Arabic, the film fomented outrage across the Middle East,
and media reports linked it to numerous violent protests. The
film also has been a subject of political controversy over its
purported connection to the September 11, 2012, attack on
the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Shortly after the Benghazi attack, an Egyptian cleric
issued a fatwa against anyone associated with Innocence of
Muslims, calling upon the “Muslim Youth in America[] and
Europe” to “kill the director, the producer[,] and the actors
and everyone who helped and promoted this film.” Garcia
received multiple death threats.
Legal wrangling ensued. Garcia asked Google to remove
the film, asserting it was hate speech and violated her state
law rights to privacy and to control her likeness. Garcia also
sent Google five takedown notices under the Digital
Millenium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512, claiming that
YouTube’s broadcast of Innocence of Muslims infringed her
copyright in her “audio-visual dramatic performance.”
Google declined to remove the film.
On September 19, 2012, Garcia first sued Google,
Youssef, and other unnamed production assistants in Los
Angeles Superior Court.
Her complaint alleged a
compendium of torts and assorted wrongdoing under
California law. As against Google, Garcia made claims for
invasion of privacy, false light, and violating her right to
publicity. She brought the same claims against Youssef and
added fraud, unfair business practices, slander, and
2
See YouTube.com Press Statistics, https://www.youtube.com/yt/
press/statistics.html (last visited May 13, 2015).
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