Rusty Lemorande v. Cameron MacKintosh Limited

MEMORANDUM

Rusty Lemorande appeals three orders of the district court granting motions to dismiss his claims on a multitude of grounds filed by defendants Cameron MacKintosh Ltd., Cameron MacKintosh, Alain Boublil Music, Ltd., Arelight Films International, LLC, and Gary Hamilton. We affirm in part, and vacate in part.

We agree with the district court that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The essence of Lemorande’s claims is that he was authorized to prepare a derivative work based on Miss Saigon, pursuant to an agreement with defendants. That MacKintosh later threatened to sue him for copyright infringement does not alter the fact that his rights and liabilities sound in contract and do not arise under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. See Scholastic Entertainment, Inc. v. Fox Entertainment Group, Inc., 336 F.3d 982 ,. 986 (9th Cir.2003) (holding that “[fjederal courts have consistently dismissed complaints in copyright cases presenting only questions of contract law” for lack of subject matter jurisdiction). The district court thus had “no discretion to retain the supplemental claims for adjudication.” Herman Family Revocable Trust v. Teddy Bear, 254 F.3d 802,…