Case: 12-57302, 05/18/2015, ID: 9540348, DktEntry: 197-1, Page 25 of 42
GARCIA V. GOOGLE
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seeks to avoid—damage to her reputation, unfair[,] forced
promotion of a hateful Film, and death—will be avoided if
any injunction issues.”
This relief is not easily achieved under copyright law.
Although we do not take lightly threats to life or the
emotional turmoil Garcia has endured, her harms are
untethered from—and incompatible with—copyright and
copyright’s function as the engine of expression.
In broad terms, “the protection of privacy is not a function
of the copyright law. . . . To the contrary, the copyright law
offers a limited monopoly to encourage ultimate public
access to the creative work of the author.” Bond v. Blum,
317 F.3d 385, 395 (4th Cir. 2003); see also Monge v. Maya
Magazines, Inc., 688 F.3d 1164, 1177 (9th Cir. 2012)
(quoting Bond and “pointedly” noting copyright cases are
analyzed “only under copyright principles, not privacy law”).
Likewise, authors cannot seek emotional distress damages
under the Copyright Act, because such damages are unrelated
to the value and marketability of their works. See In re
Dawson, 390 F.3d 1139, 1146 n.3 (9th Cir. 2004) (noting that
“‘actual damages’ in the context of the Copyright Act . . .
cover only economic damages” (internal citation omitted));
Mackie v. Rieser, 296 F.3d 909, 917 (9th Cir. 2002) (rejecting
copyright damages where “the infringement did not in any
way influence the market value” of a piece of outdoor
artwork but instead boiled down to the author’s “personal
objections to the manipulation of his artwork”).
By way of example, erstwhile professional wrestler and
reality TV star Hulk Hogan wanted to enjoin Gawker.com
from posting a sex tape of Hogan with a mistress, claiming
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