Case: 12-57302, 05/18/2015, ID: 9540348, DktEntry: 197-1, Page 21 of 42
GARCIA V. GOOGLE
21
The dissent spins speculative hypotheticals about
copyright protection for book chapters, movie outtakes,
baseball games, and Jimi Hendrix concerts. See Dissent at
35, 38. This hyperbole sounds a false alarm. Substituting
moral outrage and colorful language for legal analysis, the
dissent mixes and matches copyright concepts such as
collective works, derivative works, the requirement of
fixation, and sound recordings. The statutory definitions and
their application counsel precision, not convolution. See, e.g.,
17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 103, 114, 201. The citation to Effects
Associates, Inc. v. Cohen, 908 F.2d 555 (9th Cir. 1990)
(Kozinski, J.), is particularly puzzling. There, neither party
disputed the plaintiff’s copyright, and the plaintiff
independently fixed the special-effects footage and licensed
it to the filmmakers. See id. at 556 n.2
The reality is that contracts and the work-made-for-hire
doctrine govern much of the big-budget Hollywood
performance and production world. See 1 Nimmer on
Copyright § 6.07[B][2]. Absent these formalities, courts have
looked to implied licenses. See Effects Assocs., 908 F.2d at
559–60. Indeed, the district court found that Garcia granted
Youssef just such an implied license to incorporate her
performance into the film.12 But these legal niceties do not
necessarily dictate whether something is protected by
copyright, and licensing has its limitations. As filmmakers
12
Any copyright claim aside, the district court found that Garcia granted
Youssef a non-exclusive implied license to use her performance in the
film. Although Garcia asked Youssef about Desert Warrior’s content, she
in no way conditioned the use of her performance on Youssef’s
representations. On this record, we cannot disturb the district court’s
finding as clearly erroneous. Pom Wonderful LLC v. Hubbard, 775 F.3d
1118, at *2 (9th Cir. 2014) (noting that factual findings reviewed for clear
error).
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