Case: 12-57302, 05/18/2015, ID: 9540348, DktEntry: 197-1, Page 17 of 42
GARCIA V. GOOGLE
17
The statute purposefully left “works of authorship”
undefined to provide for some flexibility. See 1 Nimmer on
Copyright § 2.03. Nevertheless, several other provisions
provide useful guidance. An audiovisual work is one that
consists of “a series of related images which are intrinsically
intended to be shown” by machines or other electronic
equipment, plus “accompanying sounds.” 17 U.S.C. § 101.
In turn, a “motion picture” is an “audiovisual work[]
consisting of a series of related images which, when shown
in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with
accompanying sounds, if any.” Id. These two definitions
embody the work here: Innocence of Muslims is an
audiovisual work that is categorized as a motion picture and
is derivative of the script. Garcia is the author of none of this
and makes no copyright claim to the film or to the script.6
Instead, Garcia claims that her five-second performance itself
merits copyright protection.
In the face of this statutory scheme, it comes as no
surprise that during this litigation, the Copyright Office found
that Garcia’s performance was not a copyrightable work
when it rejected her copyright application. The Copyright
Office explained that its “longstanding practices do not allow
a copyright claim by an individual actor or actress in his or
her performance contained within a motion picture.” Thus,
“[f]or copyright registration purposes, a motion picture is a
single integrated work. . . . Assuming Ms. Garcia’s
contribution was limited to her acting performance, we
6
In another odd twist, one of Garcia’s primary objections rests on the
words falsely attributed to her via dubbing. But she cannot claim
copyright in words she neither authored nor spoke. That leaves Garcia
with a legitimate and serious beef, though not one that can be vindicated
under the rubric of copyright.
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