Gladwell Government Services, Inc. v. County of Marin

MEMORANDUM *

Gladwell Government Services, Inc. (“Gladwell”) appeals the district court’s dismissal of its copyright infringement action for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6). We reverse. Because the parties are familiar with the factual and procedural history of this case, we need not recount it here.

I

We review de novo a dismissal for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6). Knievel v. ESPN, 393 F.3d 1068, 1072 (9th Cir.2005). At this stage, we take as true allegations of material fact in the complaint and construe the pleadings in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Id. Our review is generally limited to the contents of the complaint, but we “may consider evidence on which the complaint ‘necessarily relies’ if: (1) the complaint refers to the document; (2) the document is central to the plaintiffs claim; and (3) no party questions the authenticity of the copy attached to the 12(b)(6) motion.” Morder v. Lopez, 450 F.3d 445, 448 (9th Cir.2006). As the parties concede, we may consider the 1999 contract between Glad-well and Marin under the foregoing exception.

II

The central claim raised on appeal is that Gladwell had authored and obtained…