NOELIA MONGE V. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC. - Ninth Circuit Court of ...

MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
ding night. Maya does not challenge either contention. Nor is
there any dispute that Maya generated revenue from sales of
Issue 633. Maya also admits that, in the past, it has paid for
exclusive rights to publish pictures of celebrity weddings,
including other celebrity weddings depicted in Issue 633.
IV. THE COURT PROCEEDINGS
Soon after publication of the pictures, the couple registered
copyrights in five of the six published photos—all the published
pictures, except the one where the couple appears
together in front of a Playboy logo. 2 Monge and Reynoso then
filed a complaint against Maya asserting claims for copyright
infringement, statutory misappropriation of likeness, and
common law misappropriation of likeness.
The district court dismissed the misappropriation of likeness
claims and struck the couple’s claims for statutory damages
under the Copyright Act. The parties filed cross-motions
for summary judgment. The district court granted Maya’s
motion for summary judgment based on fair use under 17
U.S.C. § 107, and also granted Maya’s motion for attorney’s
fees and costs.
ANALYSIS
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The sole issue on appeal is whether the district court properly
granted summary judgment in favor of Maya predicated
on the fair use doctrine. We review de novo the district
2 Because only fair use is at issue, we assume the legitimacy of the couple’s
copyright in each of the five photos for which they provided copyright
registrations. See 17 U.S.C. § 410(c) (registration serves as prima
facie evidence of validity); id. § 411(a) (federal registration is required
before bringing an infringement action). We express no opinion as to the
ownership of copyright regarding the sixth photo nor do we express an
opinion as to the ultimate copyright status of any of the photos. See United
Fabrics Int’l, Inc. v. C & J Wear, Inc., 630 F.3d 1255 (9th Cir. 2011).