PELICULAS Y VIDEOS INTERNACIONALES, SA DE CV v. Harriscope of Los Angeles, Inc.

ORDER RE: OPINION AND ORDER

Both Defendants and Plaintiffs have brought motions for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. The matter came on for hearing before the Court, the Honorable William J. Rea, Judge, presiding, on December 8, 2003. Having considered the motions, the papers filed in support thereof and in opposition thereto, the oral argument of counsel, and the case file, the Court now makes the following decision.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On April 80, 2002, Películas Y Videos Internacionales, (“PVI”) filed this lawsuit alleging copyright- infringement, under 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq., against Harriscope of Los Angeles, Inc. (“Harriscope”), Media Resources International, LLP (“MRI”), and Television International Syndicators, Inc. (“TIS”), (collectively “Defendants”).

PVI alleges it owns exclusive copyrights to twenty-nine motion pictures, published in Mexico prior to March 1, 1989, through an assignment of those rights by the films’ producers. For purposes of this motion, PVI and Defendants agree that these works fell into the public domain in the United States and were eligible for restoration under the Copyright Act and the Uruguay Round…