Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc.
Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc. | |
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S.D.N.Y. 1995) | |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | Wilfred Feinberg, Jon O. Newman, Joseph M. McLaughlin |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Newman, joined by Feinberg, McLaughlin |
Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc., 153
Case history
Itar-TASS, several Russian newspapers, and a Russian association of professional journalists (the
In its ruling two years later (
The defendants appealed against that court's ruling. The case came before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (153 F.3d 82 (2d Cir. 1998)), which partly confirmed and partly reversed the district court's ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings.
The
- that Itar-TASS, as a news agency (not a newspaper), was a copyright holder and was entitled to injunctive relief and damages,
- that the Union of Journalists of Russia might be entitled to relief as it was considered acting on behalf of its members, amongst them the individual authors of the copied articles, and
- that the newspapers, albeit not entitled to relief due to copying of the article text as they didn't hold the copyright, might still be entitled to relief due to the wholesale cut-and-paste copying done by Russian Kurier, which might have infringed the newspapers' rights arising from the creative efforts in the selection, arrangement, or display of the articles.
Because of the two last points, the case was remanded to the district court. The appellate court "in view of the reckless conduct of the defendants in the flagrant copying that infringed the rights of Itar-Tass, the rights of the authors, and very likely some aspects of the limited protectable rights of the newspapers"[1] left the injunction in force until the district court would, on remand, issue a new ruling.[1]
Consequences
The ruling concerning the choice of law (lex originis for determining copyright ownership and lex loci delicti for the infringement) was contrary to the previous presumption that only the law where the infringement occurred (i.e., lex loci delicti) would apply. It has been discussed controversially in several publications.[6] Since the Berne Convention does not offer any guidance on which law shall be applied to determine copyright ownership,[7] this ruling is still the relevant case law in this question and the principle is applied in the U.S. even in other recent cases.[8] The decision is only effective within the U.S.; other countries may follow other rules, such as using the lex loci delicti exclusively.[9]
The copyright in the U.S. on foreign publications that had failed to comply with the (former)
Related cases
The lex loci delicti isn't always the US law, even for cases heard in the US. In London Film Productions, Ltd. v. Intercontinental Communications, Inc. (1984) a US corporation was sued by a British company for infringements under the laws of several Latin American countries; the US court determined that it had jurisdiction.[11]
In
A more complex case of determining ownership under Russian law in a US court was Films by Jove Inc. v. Berov because it involved two claimants to copyrights under the Russian laws to films by Soyuzmultfilm, themselves involved in litigation in Russia. A US judge basically overruled a decision by the High Court of Arbitration of Russia because, in his view, the Russian court's decision was "strongly influenced, if not coerced, by the efforts of various Russian government officials seeking to promote 'state interests'",[12] thus lacking procedural fairness.[13]
In France, the Court of Cassation decided on 10 April 2013 that in case of conflicting laws, the French law prevails in all matters regarding copyright, including the determination of ownership. This ruling quashed the decision of a lower court, which had decided that in a lawsuit between a reporter-cameraman of a US media company operating in France, the US law applied in determining ownership of the footage.[14]
Footnotes
- a Or at the date of adherence of the country of origin to an international copyright treaty the U.S. was also party to, if the country of origin was not yet member of any such treaty on January 1, 1996. See 17 USC 104A for the precise details.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc., 153 F.3d 82 (2d Cir. 1998).
- ^ a b c Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc.; also known as "Itar-TASS I", 886 F. Supp. 1120, 1131 (S.D.N.Y. 1995).
- ^ Copyright.ru/Zeta: Международная регистрация авторских прав Archived 2006-10-04 at the Wayback Machine; ("International copyright registration"); in Russian. URL last accessed 2006-08-24.
- ^ a b c d Koeltl, J.G. (district judge): Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc., No. 95 Civ. 2144(JGK), (S.D.N.Y. March 10, 1997). District court's ruling in this case.
- ^ Podshibikhin, L. I.; Leontiev, K. B.: Реализация в Российской Федерации положений Бернской конвенции об охране литературных и художественных произведений[permanent dead link] ("The implementation of the Berne Convention in the Russian Federation"), here footnote 14. April 25, 2002; in Russian. URL last accessed 2007-01-25.
- ^ See e.g. Geller, P.E.: International Copyright: An Introduction, §§6(2)-6(3), in Geller, P.E.; Nimmer, M.B. (eds.): International Copyright Law and Practice, INT-221 to INT-253 passim; 2001.
- ^ Partridge, M.V.B.: Choice of Law in International Copyright Disputes Archived 2013-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, 1998. URL last accessed 2006-08-14.
- ^ Wiener, J.L. (circuit judge): Alameda Films et al. v. Authors Rights Restoration Corp., Inc., et al., United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 01-20869; March 19, 2003. URL last accessed 2006-08-24.
- ^ Johnson, P.: Which law applies? A reply to Professor Torremans, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice 2005 1(1), pp. 71–76. URL last accessed 2006-08-25.
- ^ a b U.S. Code: 17 USC 104A. URL last accessed 2006-08-25.
- ISBN 978-0-7355-6176-2.
- ^ FROM ITAR-TASS TO FILMS BY JOVE: THE CONFLICT OF LAWS REVOLUTION IN INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT
- ISBN 978-90-411-2742-6.
- ^ "French Supreme Court on 5(2) BC: National law determines who is the copyright owner". May 28, 2013.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- American Bar Association: Reported United States Decisions Involving Russian Parties in Civil Matters 1994–2004. URL last accessed 2006-08-24.