Elliot McGucken v. Pub Ocean Limited

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ELLIOT MCGUCKEN, an individual, No. 21-55854 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 2:20-cv-01923-

RGK-AS

PUB OCEAN LIMITED, DBA

AbsoluteHistory.com, DBA MagellanTimes.com, DBA OPINION MaternityWeek.com, DBA NewRavel.com, DBA Scribol Publishing, DBA Scribol.com, Defendant-Appellee,

and

DOES, 1–10, inclusive, Defendant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California R. Gary Klausner, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted May 13, 2022 Pasadena, California

Filed August 3, 2022 Before: Sandra S. Ikuta, Jacqueline H. Nguyen, and John B. Owens, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Nguyen

SUMMARY *

Copyright

The panel reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendant, based on a fair use defense in an action under the Copyright Act, and remanded for further proceedings.

Elliott McGucken alleged copyright infringement in the posting by Pub Ocean Ltd. of an article about an ephemeral lake that formed on the desert floor in Death Valley, using twelve of McGucken’s photos of the lake without…