Smith v. Jackson

Appeliants/Cross-Appellees Robert Smith and Reynaud Jones brought copyright infringement and RICO actions against appel-lees/cross-appellants, including Michael Jackson, Rod Temperton, and Lionel Richie. Appellants argue that (1) the district court erred in dismissing appellants’ RICO claims pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), (2) the court erred in granting partial summary judgment in appellees’ favor, and (3) the court’s jury instructions improperly permitted the jury to find for appellees without considering appellees’ access to appellants’ copyrighted works. Appellees cross-appealed the court’s decision to deny attorney’s fees. We affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Appellants’ copyright claims were based on appellees’ alleged infringement of six of appellants’ songs. Appellants had registered copyrights on each song. Appellants did not allege infringement of the lyrics or copying of large parts of the music, but rather alleged that appellees misappropriated musical “motives” from each of appellants’ works. 1 More specifically, appellants alleged that:

In addition to the copyright infringement claims, appellants alleged that appellees’ dissemination and marketing of…