Segundo Suenos, LLC v. Marshall Jones

MEMORANDUM

This case arises from successive lawsuits, first in the California Superior Court and then in the U.S. District Court, over the same issue: whether an assignment of copyrights to musical works by a popular band is valid. The district court, following a 2003 precedent of this court, DiRuzza v. County of Tehama, 323 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir.2003), dismissed the claim, based on the previously decided issue in the Superi- or Court.

Plaintiff-Appellant Segundo Sueños, LLC (“Segundo”) filed its lawsuit in the district court against Defendant-Appellee Marshall Jones (“Jones”), seeking a declaration that it had a valid assignment of Jones’ copyrighted recorded musical works. Segundo’s complaint alleges that Jones had assigned his copyrighted musical works to Artist Rights Foundation LLC (“ARF”), and that ARF had in turn assigned those rights to Segundo.

Jones moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that a previous decision of the California Superior Court, affirmed by the Court of Appeal, decided the same issue that was before the district court and held that ARF’s assignment to Segundo was invalid. The district court granted Jones’ motion, holding that Segundo was precluded by…