Case: 12-57302, 05/18/2015, ID: 9540348, DktEntry: 197-1, Page 16 of 42
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GARCIA V. GOOGLE
clearly compel suppression of a controversial and politically
significant film.
A. COPYRIGHT
The central question is whether the law and facts clearly
favor Garcia’s claim to a copyright in her five-second acting
performance as it appears in Innocence of Muslims. The
answer is no. This conclusion does not mean that a plaintiff
like Garcia is without options or that she couldn’t have sought
an injunction against different parties or on other legal
theories, like the right of publicity and defamation.5
Under the Copyright Act, “[c]opyright protection subsists
. . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible
medium of expression . . . [including] motion pictures.”
17 U.S.C. § 102(a). That fixation must be done “by or under
the authority of the author.” 17 U.S.C. § 101. Benchmarked
against this statutory standard, the law does not clearly favor
Garcia’s position.
5
Down the road, Garcia also may have a contract claim. She recalls
signing some kind of document, though she cannot find a copy. We take
no position on this claim. Nor do we consider whether Garcia’s
performance was a work made for hire. See 17 U.S.C. § 101 (defining
“work made for hire” as work “prepared by an employee within the scope
of his or her employment” or, where both parties sign a written agreement,
a work “specially ordered or commissioned . . . as a part of a motion
picture. . .”); see also § 201(b) (in case of work made for hire, the
employer or person for whom the work is prepared is the author, subject
to express agreement otherwise). In district court proceedings, the parties
disputed whether Garcia signed a work-made-for-hire agreement, and the
issue is not before us on appeal.
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