Case: 12-57302, 05/18/2015, ID: 9540348, DktEntry: 197-1, Page 18 of 42
18
GARCIA V. GOOGLE
cannot register her performance apart from the motion
picture.”
We credit this expert opinion of the Copyright Office—
the office charged with administration and enforcement of the
copyright laws and registration.7 See Inhale, Inc. v. Starbuzz
Tobacco, Inc., 755 F.3d 1038, 1041–42 (9th Cir. 2014). The
Copyright Office’s well-reasoned position “reflects a ‘body
of experience and informed judgment to which courts and
litigants may properly resort for guidance.’” Southco, Inc. v.
Kanebridge Corp., 390 F.3d 276, 286 n.5 (3d Cir. 2004) (en
banc) (Alito, J.) (quoting Yates v. Hendon, 541 U.S. 1, 3
(2004)).8
In analyzing whether the law clearly favors Garcia,
Aalmuhammed v. Lee, 202 F.3d 1227 (9th Cir. 2000),
7
As Nimmer notes, when “the question as to copyrightabilty forms the
core of the dispute between the parties, . . . input from the Copyright
Office—the governmental agency that possesses special expertise in
determining the bounds of copyright protection—[can] be of great value.”
2 Nimmer on Copyright § 7.16[B][3][b][vi].
8
The dissent’s suggestion that this case is somehow governed by the
Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances is misplaced. See Dissent at
38–39. At present, the treaty is aspirational at best. It has yet to take
effect because only six countries have ratified or acceded to the
treaty—well short of the thirty it needs to enter into force. See World
Intellectual Property Organization, Summary of the Beijing Treaty on
Audiovisual Performances (2012), available at www.wipo.int/treaties/
en/ip/beijing/summary_beijing.html (last visited May 13, 2015). Although
the United States signed the treaty in 2012, it has not been ratified by the
U.S. Senate. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution requires the
concurrence of a two-thirds majority of that body. The dissent’s reference
to the fact sheet from the Patent and Trademark Office, which unlike the
Copyright Office lacks legal authority to interpret and administer the
Copyright Act, is similarly inapposite. See Dissent at 39.
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