Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. v. TD Ameritrade Services Co.

ORDER DENYING IN PART AND GRANTING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

Presently before the Court is the Motion to Dismiss of Defendants TD Ameritrade Services Company, TD Ameritrade, Inc., Amerivest Investment Management, LLC, and Havas Worldwide New York, Inc. (collectively, “Defendants”). (Dkt. No. 49.) After considering the parties’ submissions and hearing oral argument, the Court adopts the following Order.

I. BACKGROUND

This copyright and trademark infringement case arises from Plaintiff Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc.’s intellectual property rights in the movie Dirty Dancing that Plaintiff alleges Defendants infringed. (First Am. Compl. (“FAC”) ¶¶ 15, 22, 32.)

Plaintiff Lions Gate is a “global entertainment company” that produces, distributes, finances, licenses, and performs other related activities for movies and television shows. (Id. ¶¶ 15-16.) Dirty Dancing “is a world famous, Oscar-winning film, which was released in 1987 and became a massive box office hit, with hundreds of millions of dollars in worldwide earnings reported.” (Id. ¶ 17.) Many scenes and lines from the film are particularly well-known. (Id.) The FAC notes in particular the line “Nobody puts Baby…