Rearden LLC v. The Walt Disney Company

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 REARDEN LLC, et al., Case No. 17-cv-04006-JST

Plaintiffs,

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

v. STRIKE JURY DEMAND ON PLAINTIFFS' CLAIM FOR THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, et al., DISGORGEMENT OF PROFITS Defendants. Re: ECF No. 579

12 Disney moves to strike Rearden’s jury demand with regard to its claim for disgorgement of profits. The Court will grant the motion.1 Neither the language of 17 U.S.C. § 504(b) nor the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution give Rearden the right to a jury on this claim. With regard to the statutory argument, some cases have found that the absence of the word “court” in Section 504(b), combined with the presence of the word “court” in Section 504(c) and in other sections of the Copyright Act, mean that Congress intended disgorgement to be tried by a jury. See, e.g., Capture Eleven Grp. v. Otter Prod., LLC, No. 1:20-CV-02551-CNS-KLM, 2023 WL 5573966, at *2 (D. Colo. May 31, 2023). This…