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Defamation/Republication
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, decided that the release of a film on DVD amounted to republication, rather than continuous publication, of the work for purposes of restarting the statute of limitations for defamation. Nichols v. Moore, 03-74313. The suit was filed against director Michael Moore over comments related to the plaintiff in the film “Bowling for Columbine.” The district court noted that many of the special features on the DVD were produced after the film's theatrical release and that the DVD was intended to reach a new audience. In another defamation case, a Manhattan federal district court ruled that the rebroadcast of a TV show on The Learning Channel constituted a republication for statute of limitations purposes. Lehman v. Discovery Communications Inc., 01 CV 4211. The court noted that “a rebroadcast of a television show is intended to reach a new audience and is therefore an additional communication. A rebroadcast has renewed impact with each viewing and creates a new opportunity for injury, thereby justifying a new cause of action.”
Implied Contract/Preemption
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that a screenwriter's claim for breach of implied contract against a film producer wasn't preempted by the Copyright Act. Grosso v. Miramax Film Corp., 01-57255. Plaintiff Jeff Grosso filed both a breach-of-implied-contract claim under California law and a federal copyright claim alleging that the defendants' film “The Rounders” violated Grosso's rights in his screenplay “The Shell Game.” The appeals court affirmed dismissal of the copyright claim for lack of substantial similarity, but reversed dismissal of the implied-contract claim. According to the court, California recognizes an implied contract where an idea is disclosed to another for sale “under circumstances from which it could be concluded that the offeree voluntarily accepted the disclosure knowing the conditions on which it was tendered and the reasonable value of the work.” This gave Grosso's implied-contract claim the extra element that defeated copyright preemption.
Record Distribution/ Compulsory Licenses
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