Noelia Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc.

Opinion by Judge McKEOWN; Dissent by Judge MILAN D. SMITH, JR.

OPINION

This appeal reads like a telenovela, a Spanish soap opera. It pits music celebrities, who make money by promoting themselves, against a gossip magazine, that makes money by publishing celebrity photographs, with a paparazzo, who apparently stole the disputed pictures, stuck in the middle. Noelia Lorenzo Monge and Jorge Reynoso (“the couple”), Latin American celebrities, claim that Maya Magazines, Inc. and Maya Publishing Group, LLC (collectively “Maya” or “the magazine”) infringed their copyrights by publishing previously unpublished photos of their clandestine wedding in “TVNotas,” a Spanish-language celebrity gossip magazine. The district court granted Maya summary judgment on the ground that publication of the images was fair use under the Copyright Act of 1976. We disagree and reverse. The tantalizing and even newsworthy interest in the photos does not trump a balancing of the fair use factors. Simply put, Maya did not sustain its burden of establishing that its wholesale, commercial use of the previously unpublished photos constituted fair use.

Factual and Procedural Background

I. The Cast

Noelia…

dissenting:

I respectfully dissent. Copyright is not an inviolable right that confers upon creators absolute control and ownership over their creations. Copyright protection was enacted “[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts” by creating a system in which authors and artists may reap the benefits of their creative contributions. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 8. The fair use doctrine was designed to act as the counterbalance to copyright by “permitting] courts to avoid rigid application of the copyright statute when, on occasion, it would stifle the very creativity which that law is designed to foster.” Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 577 , 114 S.Ct. 1164 , 127 L.Ed.2d 500 (1994) (internal citation and quotations omitted).

The majority’s fair use analysis in this case is inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent, and thwarts the public interests of copyright by allowing newsworthy public figures to control their images in the press. The majority contends that the public interest in a free press cannot trump a celebrity’s right to control his image and works in the media — even if that celebrity has publicly controverted the very subject matter of…

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

NOELIA LORENZO MONGE, an  individual; JORGE REYNOSO, an individual, Plaintiffs-Appellants, No. 10-56710 v.  D.C. No. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC., a Florida 2:09-cv-05077-R-SS Corporation; MAYA PUBLISHING GROUP, LLC, a Florida Limited Liability Company, Defendants-Appellees. 

NOELIA LORENZO MONGE, an  individual; JORGE REYNOSO, an individual, Plaintiffs-Appellants, No. 11-55483 v.  D.C. No. 2:09-cv-05077-R-SS MAYA MAGAZINES, INC., a Florida Corporation; MAYA PUBLISHING OPINION GROUP, LLC, a Florida Limited Liability Company, Defendants-Appellees.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Manuel L. Real, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 6, 2012—San Diego, California

Filed August 14, 2012

9169 9170 MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC. Before: M. Margaret McKeown and Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judges, and Rudi M. Brewster, Senior District Judge.*

Opinion by Judge McKeown; Dissent by Judge M. Smith

*The Honorable Rudi M. Brewster, Senior District Judge…