Unfair Competition and Copyright Claims Against Karaoke Competitor Dismissed

Case: Sybersound v. UAV Corp., 9th Cir. No. 06-55221(2/27/08)

The One Sentence Summary: Claims that a competitor in the karaoke business infringed copyrights and competed unfairly were dismissed.



Ninth Circuit Holdings:

• Lanham Act 43(a) (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)) claim for misrepresentations regarding copyright license status could not be brought by competitor who did not own copyrights, so dismissal of claim was proper.
  
• Co-owner of copyright could not assign exclusive right to sue for infringement of karaoke license.
• Dismissal of RICO claim under 18 U.S.C. § 1962 was proper because plaintiff could not show proximate cause of damage, and complicated questions as to multiple recoveries would arise.
• Dismissal of RICO claim was also proper because plaintiff could not show not show injury caused by reinvestment of RICO proceeds.
• State law claims for interference with contract and breach of California's Unfair Competition Law, Business & Professions Code section 17200, were preempted to the extent they were based on claims of copyright infringement. Claims that third parties were induced to enter contract by defendants' claims of copyright compliance could not be enforced by plaintiff who was not directly involved.
• Claim under Bus. & Prof. Code § 17043 for below cost sales were dismissed because there was no claim of a purpose to harm plaintiff.