Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Starware Publishing Corp. 900 F.Supp. 433 was a case heard before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in May 1995. This case revolves around copyright infringement and exclusive rights in the copyrighted work. Plaintiffs of Playboy Enterprises filed a motion for a partial summary assessment of the liability of copyright infringement against the defendant Starware Publishing Corporation. Specifically, Playboy Enterprises ("PEI") believes that the Starware distribution of 53 Playboy images, taken from online bulletin boards, and then sold on CD-ROMs, infringes on PEI copyright. The case confirms that it is a copyright infringement, giving Playboy Enterprises a partial summary rating. Most importantly, the case stipulates that "The copyright owner does not need to prove the knowledge or intent of the defendant to establish accountability for direct copyright infringement."
Video Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Starware Publishing Corp.
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The Plaintiff, Playboy Enterprises, is a media and personal lifestyle company founded by Hugh Marston Hefner to manage the Playboy Magazine empire. Content and programming are available worldwide, on television networks, websites, mobile platforms and radios. The defendants, Starware Publishing Corp., are a South Florida-based profit company, which sells multimedia. The PEI movement was submitted on November 2, 1994, and the Starware defendant filed its opposition on November 18, 1994.
Maps Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Starware Publishing Corp.
Fact
Starware distributes and sells about 9,611 copies of the CD-ROM titled "Private Pictures I" in the United States. It downloads these images from an online bulletin board and then burns them to a CD. Playboy Enterprises sent an Inescapable Statement of Indisputable Facts to support his movement and share the original photo in question. PEI also provides a certificate of registration issued by the United States Copyright Office for each of 53 photographs. Starware only relies on its assertion that PEI may not be the owner of the photo/copyrighted work in question, and that the works are not copyrighted. The photos submitted by Playboy Enterprises are very similar to those found in "Private Pictures I." This allows the Court to conclude that all the infringing images on the CD-ROM turn out to be copies of the Playboy photos in question.
Starware does not deny that the image it accuses is very similar. Nor does it show that the primary source for the alleged image is anything other than PEI photographs. Nor does it get permission from PEI to use the photographs in question.
The plaintiffs moved in for a partial summary assessment and argued that they have valid copyrights on material that has been distributed by the defendant through CD-ROM. Defendant Starware alleges that the "substantial amount" of copyright registration affirmed by Playboy Enterprises is for "collective work" and that it is not responsible for violations of these works because PEI may not have the underlying photo in question.
Court Decision
The decision, written by Judge Kenneth Ryskamp, ​​provides a partial summary of the claims of Playboy Enterprises against Starware for infringement on 53 copyrighted photos, in addition to the $ 1.1 million award. This is based on two key aspects of the case. First, the court seeks to determine whether the case is a violation of copyright, in which the claimant has to prove his ownership of the copyrighted claim and "copy" of the defendant from the original, or "copy" of the copyrighted work. Because it proves that the defendant has knowledge or intent is not required for the copyright owner to assign liability for copyright infringement, the copyright registration provided by Playboy Enterprises is prima facie evidence of copyright validity and the facts contained in the certificate , including ownership. Thus, this presumption by the Court shifts the burden on Starware Corp. to deny the validity of the registration certificate.
Furthermore, alleged Starware Corp. that a number of "substantial" copyright registrations confirmed by Playboy Enterprises are for "collective work" and that the Corporation is therefore not responsible for the infringement of these works because PEI may not have the underlying photographs.. However, if "collective work" is violated if any part of the copyright of the work, the original of the copyright owner, is not properly copied by another. Furthermore, since the director of Playboy Enterprise Rights and Licensing verifies that each individual photo (with one exception) is also copyrighted by PEI, the Starware claim found unfounded.
Second, the court checks whether the works were copied by Starware. Copying is usually shown by proving 1) access to copyrighted works and 2) Substantial similarities between the copyrighted work and the work of the defendant. This can also be demonstrated by proving a "striking similarity" between the copyrighted work and the work of the defendant, in which evidence of access does not exist. In this case, the defendant has acknowledged that the CD-ROM with the photographs was widely distributed throughout the United States. In terms of proving whether the defendant has access to a copyrighted work, the distribution of Playboy Magazines across the country and technically accessible to any adult will also allow access to the photos published therein. In addition, it also determined that the images that were accused were more than "very similar" - they were "almost exactly copies."
Finally, the second part of the two part tests to "copy" involved determines whether the defendant, Starware Corp. uses the photographs in the manner described in Article 106 of the Statute of Copyright.
U.S.C. Section 106: Exclusive rights in copyrighted works
This section of the U.S. Copyright Statute states that the copyright owner under this title has the exclusive right to authorize and authorize the following:
- to reproduce copyrighted works in the form of copies or fonorecords
- to prepare derivative works based on copyrighted works
- to distribute copies or fonorecords from copyrighted works to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by
rent, lease or loan;
- in the case of literary, musical, drama, and choreographic, pantomime, and film and other audiovisual works, to perform publicly copyrighted works;
- in the case of literary, musical, drama, and choreographic, pantomime, and graphic, or sculptural works, including individual drawings of films or other audiovisual works, to display publicly copyrighted works; and
- in the case of a sound recording, to perform copyrighted works publicly through digital audio transmission.
The first and third rights are primarily applied here because if a copyrighted work is used by the defendant in any of these ways, without the permission of the copyright owner, it will be an actionable infringement of copyright. Particularly in this case, Starware Corp. distributes nearly 10,000 copies of CD-ROM discs containing unauthorized photos, violating exclusive Playboy Enterprise production rights, under 17 U.S.C. Ã,§ 106 (1). In addition, 17 U.S.C. Ã,§ 106 (3), the exclusive right to distribute the works is also infringed here because CDs are widely sold and distributed.
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Source of the article : Wikipedia
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