Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc.
Justia.com Opinion Summary: In this case the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals noted, "This appeal reads like a telenovela, a Spanish soap opera. It pits music celebrities, who make money by promoting themselves, against a gossip magazine, that makes money by publishing celebrity photographs, with a paparazzo, who apparently stole the disputed pictures, stuck in the middle." Noelia Monge and Jorge Reynoso ("the couple"), Latin American celebrities, claimed that Maya Magazines, Inc. and Maya Publishing Group, LLC (collectively, "Maya") infringed their copyrights by publishing previously unpublished photos of their clandestine wedding in "TVNotas," a Spanish-language celebrity gossip magazine. The district court granted Maya summary judgment on the ground that publication of the images was fair use under the Copyright Act of 1976. The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that Maya did not sustain its burden of establishing that its wholesale, commercial use of the previously unpublished photos constituted fair use, and thus, the district court should have granted the couple's summary judgment motion on this issue. Remanded.
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FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
NOELIA LORENZO MONGE, an
individual; JORGE REYNOSO, an
individual,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
MAYA MAGAZINES, INC., a Florida
Corporation; MAYA PUBLISHING
GROUP, LLC, a Florida Limited
Liability Company,
Defendants-Appellees.
NOELIA LORENZO MONGE, an
individual; JORGE REYNOSO, an
individual,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
MAYA MAGAZINES, INC., a Florida
Corporation; MAYA PUBLISHING
GROUP, LLC, a Florida Limited
Liability Company,
Defendants-Appellees.


No. 10-56710
D.C. No.
2:09-cv-05077-R-SS



No. 11-55483
D.C. No.
2:09-cv-05077-R-SS
OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Manuel L. Real, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted
February 6, 2012âSan Diego, California
Filed August 14, 2012
9169
9170
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
Before: M. Margaret McKeown and Milan D. Smith, Jr.,
Circuit Judges, and Rudi M. Brewster,
Senior District Judge.*
Opinion by Judge McKeown;
Dissent by Judge M. Smith
*The Honorable Rudi M. Brewster, Senior District Judge for the Southern District of California, sitting by designation.
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9173
COUNSEL
Michael D. Kuznetsky (argued), Kuznetsky Law Group, P.C.,
Universal City, California, for the plaintiffs-appellants.
D. Fernando Bobadilla (argued), The Bobadilla Law Firm,
Miami, Florida; Angela C. Agrusa and Allen P. Lohse, Liner
Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor LLP,
Los Angeles, California, for the defendants-appellees.
OPINION
McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:
This appeal reads like a telenovela, a Spanish soap opera.
It pits music celebrities, who make money by promoting
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MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
themselves, against a gossip magazine, that makes money by
publishing celebrity photographs, with a paparazzo, who
apparently stole the disputed pictures, stuck in the middle.
Noelia Lorenzo Monge and Jorge Reynoso (âthe coupleâ),
Latin American celebrities, claim that Maya Magazines, Inc.
and Maya Publishing Group, LLC (collectively âMayaâ or
âthe magazineâ) infringed their copyrights by publishing previously unpublished photos of their clandestine wedding in
âTVNotas,â a Spanish-language celebrity gossip magazine.
The district court granted Maya summary judgment on the
ground that publication of the images was fair use under the
Copyright Act of 1976. We disagree and reverse. The tantalizing and even newsworthy interest in the photos does not
trump a balancing of the fair use factors. Simply put, Maya
did not sustain its burden of establishing that its wholesale,
commercial use of the previously unpublished photos constituted fair use.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
I.
THE CAST
Noelia Lorenzo Monge is a pop singer and model. Jorge
Reynoso is her manager and husband, and a music producer.
Oscar Viqueira is a paparazzo who occasionally worked as a
driver and bodyguard for the couple during their visits to
Miami. Maya publishes multiple magazines, including the
celebrity gossip magazine âTVNotas.â In the past, Maya has
paid Monge to pose for pictures published in its magazine, âH
Para Hombres.â Reynoso was paid $25,000 for photos of his
wedding to his former wife Pilar Montenegro, as well as
$40,000 for photos of his vacation in Paris with Montenegro.
II.
THE SET
Monge and Reynoso were married at the âLittle White
Wedding Chapelâ in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 3, 2007.
Valuing their privacy, and Mongeâs image as a young, single
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9175
pop singer, the couple went to great lengths to keep the wedding a secret: only the minister and two chapel employees
witnessed the ceremony. Using Mongeâs camera, chapel
employees took three photos of the wedding; later that night
at least three more photos of Monge and Reynoso in their
nuptial garb were also taken. The pictures were intended for
the coupleâs private use. For two years Monge and Reynoso
succeeded in keeping their wedding a secret, even from their
families.
In the summer of 2008, Reynoso used Viqueiraâs sport utility vehicle. Viqueira claims that after Reynoso returned the
car, Viqueira found a memory chip in the ashtray. When
Viqueira looked at the files on the memory chip, he found the
photos of the coupleâs secret wedding, along with an assortment of other photos and videos. Viqueira tried to capitalize
on the files to extort money he claimed Reynoso owed him.
When this plan failed, in February 2009, Viqueira sold to
Maya all of the electronic files he had taken âto recuperate the
payment for [his] work.â The price was $1,500. The couple
testified, and Maya does not contest, that Viqueira did not
have permission to take or sell any of the images on the memory chip.
III.
THE DRAMA
Reynoso received a phone call from his mother in February
2009, berating him for getting married without telling her.
Intent on secrecy, Reynoso denied the marriage to his own
mother, but to no avail: She had already seen the wedding
photos in a gossip magazine. Maya had published six of the
stolen photosâthree of the wedding ceremony and three of
the wedding nightâin Issue 633 of TVNotas. Prior to Issue
633, the photos were unpublished. The headline on the front
cover of the magazine stated: âThe Secret Wedding of Noelia
and Jorge Reynoso in Las Vegas.â1 The byline stated: âWe
1
The record contains English translations of the statements made in the
Spanish-language magazine.
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MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
even have photos of their first night as a married couple!â
This text was positioned beside the wedding photo on the
cover. Three photos were reproduced on the cover: one showing Monge lying on a bed revealing her underwear; one of
Reynoso smoking a cigar in front of a neon Playboy logo; and
one depicting the newly-married couple.
Inside the magazine, the photos were featured over a twopage spread. âApparently, the couple married in Las Vegas in
January 2007!â was written on the top of the spread. âFirst
and exclusive photos of the secret wedding of Noelia and
Jorge Reynosoâ was also printed in large font on the spread.
The left side of the spread was comprised of one large wedding photo, a reprint from the cover. Printed on top of this
photo was: âOnly in TVNotasâ; and the caption read: âIn fact,
a lot has been said about a supposedly secret wedding in Las
Vegas, Nevada, that took place in January 2007, but until
now, no one had shown photos of that memorable day.
TVNotas got a hold of those photos and shows them to you
now, exclusively.â
The right side of the spread was comprised of four photos.
The photos showed the couple next to a priest, kissing in wedding attire, and at a bar. The picture of Monge on a bed with
her underwear showing, also published on the cover, was
repeated. The footer of this page stated: âAlthough the couple
has declined to confirm their marriage, these photos that we
got speak for themselves.â
These six images were the only ones Maya published from
the assortment of approximately four hundred images and
three videos obtained from Viqueira. Maya did not publish
other supporting evidence such as a marriage certificate,
choosing instead to rely solely on the sensational photos. The
couple claims that the three wedding photos published comprise every wedding photo taken, and that the three photos of
the wedding night comprise almost every photo of the wed-
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9177
ding night. Maya does not challenge either contention. Nor is
there any dispute that Maya generated revenue from sales of
Issue 633. Maya also admits that, in the past, it has paid for
exclusive rights to publish pictures of celebrity weddings,
including other celebrity weddings depicted in Issue 633.
IV.
THE COURT PROCEEDINGS
Soon after publication of the pictures, the couple registered
copyrights in five of the six published photosâall the published pictures, except the one where the couple appears
together in front of a Playboy logo.2 Monge and Reynoso then
filed a complaint against Maya asserting claims for copyright
infringement, statutory misappropriation of likeness, and
common law misappropriation of likeness.
The district court dismissed the misappropriation of likeness claims and struck the coupleâs claims for statutory damages under the Copyright Act. The parties filed cross-motions
for summary judgment. The district court granted Mayaâs
motion for summary judgment based on fair use under 17
U.S.C. § 107, and also granted Mayaâs motion for attorneyâs
fees and costs.
ANALYSIS
The sole issue on appeal is whether the district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of Maya predicated
on the fair use doctrine. We review de novo the district
2
Because only fair use is at issue, we assume the legitimacy of the coupleâs copyright in each of the five photos for which they provided copyright registrations. See 17 U.S.C. § 410(c) (registration serves as prima
facie evidence of validity); id. § 411(a) (federal registration is required
before bringing an infringement action). We express no opinion as to the
ownership of copyright regarding the sixth photo nor do we express an
opinion as to the ultimate copyright status of any of the photos. See United
Fabrics Intâl, Inc. v. C & J Wear, Inc., 630 F.3d 1255 (9th Cir. 2011).
9178
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
courtâs finding of fair use, a mixed question of law and fact.
Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., 336 F.3d 811, 817 (9th Cir. 2003).
I.
THE FAIR USE DOCTRINE
The fair use doctrine has been called âthe most troublesome
in the whole law of copyright.â Dellar v. Samuel Goldwyn,
Inc., 104 F.2d 661, 662 (2d Cir. 1939) (per curiam). This
affirmative defense presumes that unauthorized copying has
occurred, and is instead aimed at whether the defendantâs use
was fair. As with all affirmative defenses, Maya as the defendant bears the burden of proof. See Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539, 561 (1985). Despite
its claim that it purchased the photos in good faith, âthe innocent intent of the defendant constitutes no defense to liability.â 4 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on
Copyright § 13.08[B][1] (Matthew Bender rev. ed. 2011)
(footnote omitted).
Fair use is a central component of American copyright law.
Although its roots, like copyright law itself, may be traced to
English courts,3 the doctrine first took hold in this country in
Justice Storyâs opinion in Folsom v. Marsh, 9 F. Cas. 342
(No. 4901) (C.C.D. Mass. 1841). He wrote that âa fair and
bona fide abridgement of an original work[ ] is not a piracy
of the copyright of the author.â Id. at 345. Foreshadowing
future commentary on fair use, Justice Story noted that âwhat
constitutes a fair and bona fide abridgement, in the sense of
the law, is one of the most difficult points, under particular
circumstances, which can well arise for judicial discussion.â
Id. Justice Story characterized copyright cases as approaching
âthe metaphysics of the law, where the distinctions are, or at
least may be, very subtle and refined, and, sometimes, almost
evanescent.â Id. at 344.
3
Matthew Sag, The Prehistory of Fair Use, 76 BROOK. L. REV. 1371,
1372-73 (2011).
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9179
[1] Fair use became more concrete when it was codified in
the Copyright Act of 1976: â[T]he fair use of a copyrighted
work . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching . . . , scholarship, or research, is not an
infringement of copyright.â 17 U.S.C. § 107. Courts are
directed to determine fair use on the basis of the following
non-exclusive factors:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including
whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for
nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion
used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market
for or value of the copyrighted work.
Id. In 1992, Congress amended the fair use section to address
the status of unpublished works: âThe fact that a work is
unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such
finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.â
Id.
In the years following the 1976 Act, courts have decided
countless cases involving the fair use doctrine. Some commentators have criticized the factors, labeling them âbillowing
white gooâ4 or ânaught but a fairy tale,â5 echoing courts that
threw up their hands because the doctrine is âso flexible as
virtually to defy definition.â Princeton Univ. Press v. Mich.
4
Jessica Litman, Billowing White Goo, 31 COLUM. J.L. & ARTS 587, 596
(2008).
5
David Nimmer, âFairest of Them Allâ & Other Fairy Tales of Fair
Use, 66 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 263, 287 (2003).
9180
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
Doc. Servs., Inc., 99 F.3d 1381, 1392 (6th Cir. 1996) (citation
omitted). A leading treatise in this area notes that the statute
provides âno guidance as to the relative weight to be ascribed
to each of the listed factors,â and, in the end, âcourts are left
with almost complete discretion in determining whether any
given factor is present in any particular use.â Nimmer on
Copyright § 13.05[A] (footnotes omitted).
We acknowledge the porous nature of the factors but nonetheless recognize that we are obliged to make sense of the
doctrine and its predicates. Over time, there has been a shift
in analytical emphasis in the fair use factors, in large part due
to several key Supreme Court cases. The relative importance
of factor oneââthe purpose and characterâ of the useâand
factor fourââthe effect of the use upon the potential marketâ
âhas dominated the case law. Because these factors are also
significant here, we take the time to discuss the recent evolution of the doctrine. Two key Supreme Court cases guide our
analysis: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters.,
471 U.S. 539 (1985), and Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.,
510 U.S. 569 (1994).
Harper & Row is particularly instructive because it
involved the unpublished memoirs of a public figure, President Ford. Just before Time Magazine was scheduled to publish excerpts from President Fordâs forthcoming book, The
Nation magazine published an article that included, from an
unauthorized source, verbatim quotations from the book. The
Court held that âuse of the[ ] verbatim excerpts from the
unpublished manuscript was not a fair use.â 471 U.S. at 569.
In discussing the fair use factors, the Court illuminated several points that bear on this case. Commenting on the public
interest issue, the Court faulted the court of appeals for âconcluding that The Nationâs use of the copyrighted material was
excused by the publicâs interest in the subject matter.â Id. In
that vein the Court admonished:
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9181
It is fundamentally at odds with the scheme of
copyright to accord lesser rights in those works that
are of greatest importance to the public. . . . [W]e see
no warrant for expanding the doctrine of fair use to
create what amounts to a public figure exception to
copyright.
Id. at 559-60. Similar to our case, the confidentiality of the
unpublished works was central in Harper & Row. Brushing
aside The Nationâs effort to sidestep liability, the Court wrote
that â[a] use that so clearly infringes the copyright holderâs
interests in confidentiality and creative control is difficult to
characterize as âfair.â â Id. at 564.
Echoing its then-recent decision in Sony Corp. of Am. v.
Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984), superseded
on other grounds by statute, 17 U.S.C. § 1201, the Court synthesized the fourth factor, the effect on the potential market
as âundoubtedly the single most important element of fair
use.â Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 566. In its conclusion, the
Court cautioned as follows: âCongress has not designed, and
we see no warrant for judicially imposing, a âcompulsory
licenseâ permitting unfettered access to the unpublished copyrighted expression of public figures.â Id. at 569. In other
words, the Court did not give a fair use free pass to news
reporting on public figures, nor did it embrace the notion that
the unpublished nature of the work is without consequence.
Almost ten years later, the Court returned to the fair use
doctrine in Campbell, 510 U.S. 569. The case arose in the
context of a parody by 2 Live Crew of the Roy Orbison and
William Dees song âOh, Pretty Woman.â The Court
addressed the first factor and highlighted âthat the commercial
or nonprofit educational purpose of a work is only one element of the first factor enquiry . . . .â Id. at 584. It debunked
the notion that Sony called for a âhard evidentiary presumptionâ that commercial use is presumptively unfair. Id. Instead,
the Court harkened back to its explanation in Harper v. Row
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MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
that commercial use âtends to weigh against a finding of fair
use,â and said â[b]ut that is all.â Id. at 585 (internal quotation
marks omitted).
The Court also clarified the role of the fourth factor, market
harm, and criticized reliance on Sony to support a presumption of market harm in the event of transformative commercial use. It noted that âSonyâs discussion of a presumption
contrasts a context of verbatim copying of the original in its
entirety for commercial purposes, with the noncommercial
context of Sony itself (home copying of television programming).â Id. at 591. Of course, commercial use may tip the
scale toward market harm, but like the other factors, it âmay
be addressed only through a âsensitive balancing of interests.â â Id. at 590 n.21 (citation omitted).
Against this backdrop, we address the four fair use factors.
II.
FAIR USE FACTORS
A.
PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF THE USE
The first factor includes three principles that simultaneously complement and yet are in tension with one another
in this case: news reporting; transformation; and commercial
use.
1.
News Reporting
The preamble to the fair use statute lists ânews reportingâ
as an illustrative basis supporting fair use under this factor. 17
U.S.C. § 107. We have little doubt that the gossip magazineâs
sensational coverage of the wedding qualifies as news reporting. Our role in this regard is not as a literary critic. Campbell,
510 U.S. at 582 (whether âin good taste or bad does not and
should not matter to fair useâ). While the parties agree that the
pictures at issue are newsworthy, we must nevertheless proceed cautiously because â[t]he promise of copyright would be
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9183
an empty one if it could be avoided merely by dubbing the
infringement a fair use ânews reportâ of the [work].â Harper
& Row, 471 U.S. at 557.
[2] Although news reporting is an example of fair use, it
is not sufficient itself to sustain a per se finding of fair use.
The âfact that an article arguably is ânewsâ and therefore a
productive use is simply one factor in a fair use analysis.â Id.
at 561. In other words, fair use has bounds even in news
reporting, and no per se âpublic interestâ exception exists.
See, e.g., Murphy v. Millennium Radio Grp. LLC, 650 F.3d
295, 307 (3d Cir. 2011) (â[N]ews reporting does not enjoy a
blanket exemption from copyright. News organizations are
not free to use any and all copyrighted works without the permission of the creator simply because they wish to report on
the same events a work depicts.â); Núñez v. Caribbean Intâl
News Corp., 235 F.3d 18, 22 (1st Cir. 2000) (allowing publication of three pictures for news purposes, but clarifying that
â[t]his is not to say that . . . use of the photographs was necessarily fair merely because the photographs were used for news
purposes, nor does it establish a general ânewsworthinessâ
exception.â). Because Maya cannot simply take fair use refuge under the umbrella of news reporting, we analyze Mayaâs
coverage in light of two other considerations: the degree of
transformation occasioned by Mayaâs use; and the commercial nature of its use.6
6
In evaluating the âpurpose and characterâ factor, we apply âthe general
rule that a party claiming fair use must act in a manner generally compatible with principles of good faith and fair dealing.â Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 508 F.3d 1146, 1164 n.8 (9th Cir. 2007) (citing Harper &
Row, 471 U.S. at 562-63). The couple claims that the magazine acted in
bad faith by failing to: seek permission from them; confirm that the copyrights in the images belonged to Viqueira; and seek any documentation as
to ownership. Maya presents evidence, however, that it procured a written
copyright assignment from Viqueira, and argues that it had no reason to
believe that the known paparazzo did not have rights to the photos. While
the coupleâs arguments may call into question Mayaâs good faith, Mayaâs
actions do ânot amount to an abuse of the good faith and fair dealing
underpinnings of the fair use doctrine.â Id. Application of the defense is
not foreclosed.
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MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
2.
Transformation
[3] Transformation is a judicially-created consideration
that does not appear in the text of the statute. According to
Campbell:
The central purpose of this investigation is to see, in
Justice Storyâs words, whether the new work merely
âsupercede[s] the objectsâ of the original creation, or
instead adds something new, with a further purpose
or different character, altering the first with new
expression, meaning, or message; it asks, in other
words, whether and to what extent the new work is
âtransformative.â
510 U.S. at 579 (citations and quotation marks omitted).
â[T]he more transformative the new work, the less will be the
significance of other factors, like commercialism, that may
weigh against a finding of fair use.â Id.
Transformation in the news reporting context has been litigated repeatedly in our circuit, often involving the Los Angeles News Service. In L.A. News Serv. v. Reuters Television
Intâl, we stated that despite the newsworthiness of the videos
at issue, which documented a beating during a riot in Los
Angeles, their mere rebroadcast was not in itself transformative: âAlthough [Reutersâs] service does have a news reporting purpose, its use of the works was not very transformative.
Reuters copies footage and transmits it to news reporting
organizations; Reuters does not explain the footage, edit the
content of the footage, or include editorial comment.â 149
F.3d 987, 993 (9th Cir. 1998). Similarly, a news stationâs
broadcast of an extraordinarily timely news segment concerning ongoing riots related to the Rodney King beating was held
unfair: Even though the news station âapparently ran its own
voice-over, it does not appear to have added anything new or
transformative to what made the [ ] work valuable â a clear,
visual recording of the beating itself.â L.A. News Serv. v.
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9185
KCAL-TV Channel 9, 108 F.3d 1119, 1122 (9th Cir. 1997).
Minor changes, such as placing âvoice-oversâ on video clips,
do not ânecessarily transform a work.â Elvis Presley Enters.,
Inc. v. Passport Video, 349 F.3d 622, 628-29 (9th Cir. 2003),
overruled on other grounds as stated in Flexible Lifeline Sys.,
Inc. v. Precision Lift, Inc., 654 F.3d 989, 995 (9th Cir. 2011)
(per curiam).
Arrangement of a work in a photo montage, however, can
be transformative where copyrighted material is incorporated
into other material. For example, the use of a brief segment
of a riot clip in a promotional video was deemed to be fair
use. L.A. News Serv. v. CBS Broad., Inc., 305 F.3d 924 (9th
Cir. 2002), as amended, 313 F.3d 1093. Nonetheless,
â[m]erely plucking the most visually arresting excerpt from
[ ] nine minutes of footage cannot be saidâ to be transformative, but
inclusion of the clip in the video montage that introduced the Prime Time Justice program, following
editing for dramatic effect, has a better claim to be
within the scope of âtransformation.â The development of the montage at least plausibly incorporates
the element of creativity beyond mere republication,
and it serves some purpose beyond newsworthiness.
Id. at 939; see also Murphy, 650 F.3d at 306 (disallowing
copying of unaltered image because there was âno meaningful
distinction between the purpose and characterâ of the creatorâs use and the infringerâs use of reporting news).
[4] The pictures here are a âclear, visual recordingâ of the
coupleâs wedding and wedding night. KCAL-TV Channel 9,
108 F.3d at 1122. Because publication of photographic evidence that constitutes proof of a newsworthy event is not
automatically fair use, we turn to the degree to which Mayaâs
use transformed the works. Each of the individual images was
reproduced essentially in its entirety; neither minor cropping
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MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
nor the inclusion of headlines or captions transformed the
copyrighted works. The reasoning regarding voice-overs from
Elvis Presley Enterprises applies with equal vigor to headlines and captions over still images. 349 F.3d at 628-29.
The individual images were marginally transformed, however, in other ways. The text and article accompanying the
photos, as well as their arrangement in a photo montage, may
give the pictures âa further purpose.â CBS Broad., Inc., 305
F.3d at 938 (citation and quotation marks omitted). Campbell
makes clear that the âheartâ of a claim for transformative use
is âthe use of some elements of a prior authorâs composition
to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that
authorâs works.â 510 U.S. at 580. Of course, in Campbell, the
question related to parody, a direct comment aimed at the
original song. The dissentâs vivid description of the copyrighted photos does not undermine the conclusion that there
was no real transformation of the photos themselves. Nor can
it be said, as in Campbell, that Maya created a new work
based on the photos.
Even if the photos were not physically or creatively transformed, Maya claims that publication of the photos as an
exposé amounted to transformation. In other words, Mayaâs
publication transformed the photos from their original
purposeâimages of a wedding nightâinto newsworthy evidence of a clandestine marriage.7 In support, Maya relies
heavily on Núñez, a First Circuit case that is distinguishable.
235 F.3d 18. In Núñez, a photographer sued a newspaper that
published his copyrighted images of a woman that had won
the title of âMiss Universe Puerto Rico.â Id. at 21. In at least
7
While the couple undisputedly kept the wedding a secret, contrary to
the dissentâs assertion, the record contains no evidence that the couple
made affirmative representations about their marital status. There is no
evidence that the couple repeatedly denied their marriage or made other
public statements to the contrary. The district court erred in making such
factual findings and likewise erred in inferring such representations during
the summary judgment proceeding.
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9187
one photo, the woman appeared naked or nearly naked. After
a local television station displayed the risqué photographs, the
model was interviewed about âher fitness to retain the Miss
Universe Puerto Rico crown.â Id. Soon after, a local newspaper published the photographs without permission, along with
several articles about the controversy. Id.
[5] Although Núñez also involved news reporting, the similarities end there. The controversy there was whether the
salacious photos themselves were befitting a âMiss Universe
Puerto Rico,â and whether she should retain her title. In contrast, the controversy here has little to do with photos; instead,
the photos here depict the coupleâs clandestine wedding. The
photos were not even necessary to prove that controverted
factâthe marriage certificate, which is a matter of public
record, may have sufficed to inform the public that the couple
kept their marriage a secret for two years. Indeed, â[t]he public interest in the free flow of information is assured by the
lawâs refusal to recognize a valid copyright in facts.â Iowa
State Univ. Research Found., Inc. v. Am. Broad. Cos. Inc.,
621 F.2d 57, 61 (2d Cir. 1980). Under copyright law, Maya
possesses âan unfettered right to use any factual information
revealed [through the photos] for the purpose of enlightening
its audience, but it can claim no need to bodily appropriate
[the coupleâs] expression of that information by utilizing portions of the actual [photos].â Id. (internal quotation marks
omitted). Unlike here, in Núñez âthe pictures were the story,â
and the newspaper in Núñez did not seek to âmanufacture
newsworthiness,â nor did it âscoopâ the story. 235 F.3d at 22.8
8
Contrary to the dissentâs concern, where the content of the work is the
story, such as a controversy over a congressmanâs âsalaciousâ photos or
a golf celebrityâs âsextâ messages, news reporters would have a better
claim of transformation, which, far from being determinative, is simply
one of the factors we consider in the fair use analysis. See Murphy, 650
F.3d at 307-08 (âUnder many circumstances, reporters will indeed be able
to claim a fair use defense against claims of infringement.â). In any event,
neither example the dissent provides pertains to a âprivate,â unpublished
workâboth Tiger Woods and Congressman Weiner distributed their
âmasterpiecesâ to others.
9188
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
Also significant, the work in Núñez had already been distributed when the infringement occurred. Id. at 20.
We reiterate what the First Circuit emphasized, namely that
there is no âgeneral ânewsworthinessâ exception.â Id. In other
words, newsworthiness itself does not lead to transformation.
The dissentâs doomsday prediction about the impact of our
decision on investigative journalism is overblown. See Harper
& Row, 471 U.S. at 561 (âThe issue is not what constitutes
news, but whether a claim of newsreporting is a valid fair use
defense to an infringement of copyrightable expression. The
[magazine] has every right to seek to be the first to publish
information. But [the magazine] went beyond simply reporting uncopyrightable information and actively sought to
exploit the headline value of its infringement, making a news
event out of its unauthorized first publication of a noted figureâs copyrighted expression.â (internal quotation marks and
citation omitted)).
Mayaâs purpose in publishing the photos was to expose the
coupleâs secret wedding, which was at odds with the coupleâs
purpose of documenting their private nuptials. See Perfect 10,
Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 508 F.3d 1146, 1165 (9th Cir. 2007)
(using âimages in a new context to serve a different purposeâ
may be transformative). But even an infringerâs separate purpose, by itself, does not necessarily create new aesthetics or
a new work that âalter[s] the first [work] with new expression,
meaning or message.â Infinity Broad. Corp. v. Kirkwood, 150
F.3d 104, 108 (2d Cir. 1998) (quoting Campbell, 510 U.S. at
579). A âdifference in purpose is not quite the same thing as
transformation, and Campbell instructs that transformativeness is the critical inquiry under this factor.â Id.
[6] Maya did not transform the photos into a new work, as
in Campbell, or incorporate the photos as part of a broader
work, as in CBS Broadcasting. Instead, unlike the thumbnail
images at issue in Perfect 10, Maya left the inherent character
of the images unchanged. See Perfect 10, Inc., 508 F.3d at
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9189
1165 (âa search engine provides social benefit by incorporating an original work into a new work, namely, an electronic
reference tool.â). Mayaâs useâwholesale copying sprinkled
with written commentaryâwas at best minimally transformative. See Pierre N. Leval, Toward a Fair Use Standard, 103
HARV. L. REV. 1105, 1111 (1990) (use of copyrighted material
that âmerely repackages or republishes the originalâ is
unlikely to be fair use).
3.
Commercial Use
Mayaâs use was undisputedly commercial in nature. The
gossip magazine makes no pretense that it is educational. It is
a commercial publication.
[7] The Supreme Court has stated that âevery commercial
use of copyrighted material is presumptively an unfair exploitation of the monopoly privilege that belongs to the owner of
the copyright.â Sony, 464 U.S. at 451. Commercial use is a
âfactor that tends to weigh against a finding of fair useâ
because âthe user stands to profit from exploitation of the
copyrighted material without paying the customary price.â
Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 562. There is no dispute here that
Maya is motivated by profits, and in fact profited from the
publication of the pictures.
[8] Although Mayaâs reporting on the clandestine wedding
was newsworthy, newsworthiness, by itself, is insufficient to
demonstrate fair use. Similarly, exposing truths in the public
interest is not a bell weather of fair use. See Chicago Bd. of
Educ. v. Substance, Inc., 354 F.3d 624, 629-30 (7th Cir. 2003)
(denying fair use defense for a newspaper that published in
their entirety six âsecureâ testsâtests that are generally kept
secretâto demonstrate their shortcomings). Mayaâs minimal
transformation of the photos is substantially undercut by its
undisputed commercial use. See Infinity Broadcast Corp., 150
F.3d at 109 (the different, and possibly beneficial, purposes of
the copying is outweighed by the total absence of transforma-
9190
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
tiveness). On balance, the first factor is at best neutral, and
does not support Mayaâs claim of fair use.
B.
NATURE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK
[9] Under the second factor, we address two aspects of the
work: the extent to which it is creative and whether it is
unpublished. Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 563-64.
[10] Photos are generally viewed as creative, aesthetic
expressions of a scene or image and have long been the subject of copyright. See 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)(5) (extending copyright protection to âpictorial, graphic, and sculptural worksâ).
In the seminal case protecting photos, the Supreme Court held
that a photographic portrait of Oscar Wilde was entitled to
copyright protection because of various creative elements
employed by the photographer. Burrow-Giles Lithographic
Co. v. Sarony, 111 U.S. 53, 61 (1884). Although the Court
expressly declined to rule on whether âthe ordinary production of a photographâ necessarily exhibits sufficient originality to claim copyright, id. at 59, our court has recognized that
individual photos merit copyright protection. See, e.g., EtsHokin v. Skyy Spirits, Inc., 225 F.3d 1068, 1074 (9th Cir.
2000) (âIndeed, the idea that photography is art deserving
[copyright] protection reflects a longstanding view of AngloAmerican law.â).
Admittedly, the point-and-shoot images here are hardly the
work of famous photographers like Richard Avedon, Diane
Arbus, or Annie Liebovitz. But neither are they entirely factual in nature, as Maya argues. Simply because a photo documents an event does not turn a pictorial representation into a
factual recitation of the nature referenced in Harper & Row.
Photos that we now regard as iconic often document an event
âwhether the flight of the Wright Brothersâ airplane, the sailorâs kiss in Times Square on V-J Day, the first landing on the
moon, or the fall of the Berlin Wall. See generally
PHOTOS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (Prestel Verlag 2000).
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9191
[11] Although the published photos were not highly artistic
in nature, they do have a defining and common characteristic
âuntil Issue 633 hit the stands, they were unpublished. We
pointedly note that we address the unpublished status of the
photos only under copyright principles, not privacy law. See
Bond v. Blum, 317 F.3d 385, 395 (4th Cir. 2003) (âthe protection of privacy is not a function of the copyright law.â). âIt
may seem paradoxical to allow copyright to be obtained in
secret documents, but it is not. . . . [F]ederal copyright is now
available for unpublished works that the author intends to
never see the light of day.â Chicago Bd. of Educ., 354 F.3d
at 627. We begin with a basic principle: âthe unpublished
nature of a work is a key, though not necessarily determinative, factor tending to negate a defense of fair use.â Harper
& Row, 471 U.S. at 554 (quotation and other marks omitted).
The Court specifically honed in on the unpublished status of
the work, calling it âa critical element of its ânature.â â Id. at
564. Accordingly, â[u]nder ordinary circumstances, the
authorâs right to control the first public appearance of his
undisseminated expression will outweigh a claim of fair use.â
Id. at 555 (emphases added).
The Court has been silent on what sort of âextraordinary
circumstancesâ overcome the presumption against prepublication fair use; however, under a 1992 amendment to the
Copyright Act, â[t]he fact that a work is unpublished shall not
itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon
consideration of all [four] factors.â 17 U.S.C. § 107. The 1992
addition to the fair use statute undid a line of Second Circuit
cases that created a bar on fair use where unpublished letters
were being used in biographies. See New Era Publâns Intâl v.
Henry Holt & Co., 873 F.2d 576, 583 (2d Cir. 1989); Salinger
v. Random House, Inc., 811 F.2d 90, 99-100 (2d Cir. 1987).
The congressional report noted that it was ânot the Committeeâs intention to alter the weight currently given by the courts
to the unpublished nature of a work under the second fair use
factor. The general principles regarding fair use of unpublished works set forth by the Supreme Court in Harper & Row
9192
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
v. Nation Enterprises still apply.â H.R. Rep. No. 102-286, at
9 (1992), reprinted in 1992 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2553, 2561. The
Senate confirmed the vitality of Harper & Row: âwe intend
to roll back the virtual per se rule of Salinger and New Era,
but we do not mean to depart from Harper & Row.â S. Rep.
No. 102-141, at 5-6 (1991).
[12] We are unable to discern anything extraordinary about
the situation here, and agree with the district court that
Mayaâs âpublication undoubtedly supplanted Plaintiffsâ right
to control the first public appearance of the photographs.â
Contra Núñez, 235 F.3d at 23 (â[Defendant] did not aim to
use the photographs to compete with Núñez, nor to supplement his right of first productionâ). This finding further distinguishes Núñez, where the works were hardly confidential
or secret and âhad already been distributedâ when the
infringement occurred. Id. at 21, 23. In contrast, Mayaâs headlines bragged about its exclusive photo spread of never before
seen images.
[13] In analyzing the second factor, the nature of the work,
we balance the copyright protection received by marginally
creative works with the Supreme Courtâs clear recognition
that the unpublished status of the work is a âcritical element.â
These aspects counter-balance each other, and because the
case is not exceptional, we apply the Supreme Courtâs admonition that with respect to unpublished works, this factor âoutweighsâ Mayaâs claim of fair use. See Harper & Row, 471
U.S. at 555.
C.
AMOUNT AND SUBSTANTIALITY OF THE PORTION USED
[14] The third statutory factor in the fair use analysis is
âthe amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation
to the copyrighted work as a whole.â 17 U.S.C. § 107(3). We
examine both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the
portion of the copyrighted material taken. Campbell, 510 U.S.
at 586. Quantitatively, every single photo of the wedding and
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9193
almost every photo of the wedding night were published.
With respect to the ceremony, none of the three published
photos were heavily cropped. The same is true regarding the
remaining photos, with the exception of the image where
Reynoso is smoking a cigar. Qualitatively, the minimal cropping of each picture demonstrates that the âheartâ of each
individual copyrighted picture was published. Elvis Presley
Enters., 349 F.3d at 630 (courts should âlook to see whether
âthe heartâ of the copyrighted work is taken.â).
[15] The inquiry under this factor is a flexible one, rather
than a simple determination of the percentage of the copyrighted work used. But we should be clear, Maya copied 100
percent of the copyrighted photos at issue. Id. (noting as to
Elvis Presley photos, defendants used âentire pictureâ in the
infringing work). While we do not discredit Mayaâs legitimate
role as a news gatherer, its reporting purpose could have been
served through publication of the coupleâs marriage certificate
or other sources rather than copyrighted photos. Even absent
official documentation, one clear portrait depicting the newly
married couple in wedding garb with the priest would certainly have sufficed to verify the clandestine wedding. Maya
used far more than was necessary to corroborate its storyâall
three wedding images and three post-wedding photos. Thus,
analyzing both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the
published material, this factor weighs against fair use.
Maya does not challenge the copyrightability of the individual photos, and each of the five individual images is part
of a separate and distinct copyright registration. During oral
argument, however, the district court minimized the amount
and substantiality of Mayaâs use in stating: âDefendants published only 5 [sic] of the 400 photographs of plaintiffsâ wedding that defendants purchased.â9 While Maya did obtain over
9
The district court made a clearly erroneous finding of fact with respect
to this factor. See Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 372 (1992) (a district
courtâs findings of fact are reviewed for clear error). Although Maya
undisputedly published six photos, the district courtâs finding that five
photos, instead of six, were published is an inconsequential error that does
not affect our analysis.
9194
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
four hundred images and three videos from Viqueiraâs stolen
memory chip, only six of the pictures were related to the night
of the wedding. Maya, which is in possession of the images,
did not produce any of the other images or offer any details
as to the remaining content in this assortment. The district
courtâs statementâthat â400 photographs of plaintiffsâ weddingâ were purchasedâwas in error.
This error was not inconsequential. Benchmarking the use
of six images against a vast collection that the court perceived
to be other wedding photos tainted the district courtâs lens on
the situation. The facts are to the contraryâa limited number
of private photos were taken on Mongeâs camera on the wedding day and Maya published six of those images. To suggest
that this usage should be compared to a universe of four hundred other unidentified images and videos that happened to be
located on the storage device makes little sense. It would be
akin to taking a random collection of copyrighted materials
from someoneâs trash can and using the stack as the universe
of copyrighted work, using a memory stick to copy random
photos from various computer files, or randomly downloading
hundreds of unrelated copyrighted images from the Internet
and thereafter claiming that the infringing use was insubstantial simply because only a few images from this âcompilationâ were published. Mayaâs acquisition of a random
collection of unidentified, non-wedding related images and
videos does not bear on the fair use analysis here, the district
courtâs analysis notwithstanding.
The dissent does not explain why the only work at issue is
the purported âcompilationâ or âcollectionâ bought by Maya.
More disconcerting is that the dissentâs characterization of the
four hundred photos as a âcompilationâ misapprehends the
meaning of this term in the copyright law. A âcompilationâ is
defined as âa work formed by the collection and assembling
of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as
a whole constitutes an original work of authorship. The term
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9195
âcompilationâ includes collective works.â 17 U.S.C. § 101
(emphasis added); see also id. (defining a âcollective workâ
as a work âin which a number of contributions, constituting
separate and independent works in themselves, are assembled
into a collective whole.â (emphasis added)).
The dissentâs effort to recast the images on the storage disk
as a âcompilationâ poses several insurmountable hurdles for
Maya. To its credit, Maya made no such argument; this theory
is an invention by the dissent. To begin, there is absolutely no
evidence that the multiple images were in any way âselected,
coordinated, or arrangedâ to create âan original work of
authorship.â Maya did not even submit for the record the
other material on the storage disk and nothing in the record
supports a finding regarding compilation. Indeed, it would
take an act of legal clairvoyance to deem the material on the
disk a copyrighted compilation without ever seeing it. Finally,
Maya bears the burden on this point and yet has offered nothing. To say, as the dissent does, that Maya âcarefully selected
the photosâ (Dissent at 9214) glosses over the reality that
Maya copied all of the wedding-related photos. Total appropriation, not selection, would be a more accurate characterization.
[16] Each of the individual wedding photos is a separate
work10 because each photo âcan live [its] own copyright lifeâ
and âhas an independent economic value and is, in itself, viable.â Columbia Pictures TV, Inc. v. Krypton Broad. of Birmingham, Inc., 259 F.3d 1186, 1193 (9th Cir. 2001)
(affirming prior decision that each episode of television series
was a separate âworkâ) (citations omitted). In sum, there is no
10
Although the Copyright Act does not define the term âwork,â courts
approach the definition depending on the specific issue, for example,
deciding proper registration, determining whether a work is sufficiently
original, and calculating statutory damages. See generally Nimmer on
Copyright § 2.08. We need not parse the definition in the context of fair
use because the outcome does not depend on it. No evidence supports
treating the four hundred photos as a single work.
9196
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
compilation and it makes sense to treat each photo as an individual copyrighted work. Even if the facts could be stretched
and the grouping of wedding photos could qualify as a compilation, the result would be the sameâMayaâs use was not just
substantial, it was total. This factor weighs decisively against
fair use.
D.
EFFECT UPON THE POTENTIAL MARKET
[17] The final fair use factor is âthe effect of the use upon
the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.â 17
U.S.C. § 107(4) (emphasis added). The Supreme Court
declared in Harper & Row that â[t]his last factor is undoubtedly the single most important element of fair use.â 471 U.S.
at 566 (footnote and citation omitted). Maya argued, and the
district court agreed, that no potential market for the pictures
existed because the couple did not intend to sell publication
rights to the photos. The district courtâs legal conclusion that
the potential market was destroyed due to the coupleâs thenpresent intent regarding publication was in error.
As discussed above, in Campbell, the Court offered a
nuanced approach relating to the presumption of market harm.
It explained that commercial use may tip the scale toward
market harm, but like the other factors, it âmay be addressed
only through a âsensitive balancing of interests.â â Campbell,
510 U.S. at 590 n.21 (quotation omitted). Specifically, where
âthe second use is transformative, market substitution is at
least less certain, and market harm may not be so readily
inferred.â Id. at 591. However, a presumption of market harm
âmakes common sense[ ] when a commercial use amounts to
mere duplication of the entirety of an original.â Id. Thus, the
market harm analysis is affected by whether the harm is
caused by commercial use of a mere duplicate or by commercial use post-transformation. Cf. Leadsinger, Inc. v. BMG
Music Publâg, 512 F.3d 522, 531 (9th Cir. 2008) (âwhen âthe
intended use is for commercial gain,â the likelihood of market
harm âmay be presumedâ â (quoting Sony, 464 U.S. at 451)).
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9197
[18] In light of the Supreme Courtâs admonition eschewing
presumptions under this factor, we refrain from presuming
harm in the potential market; instead, we determine it in the
first instance. The cases addressing the potential market for
unpublished works illustrate the importance of letting the
copyright owner control first publication. âUnder section 107,
âpotential marketâ means either an immediate or a delayed
market, and includes harm to derivative works.â Cable/Home
Commcân Corp. v. Network Prods., Inc., 902 F.2d 829, 845
(11th Cir. 1990). Control over the delayed market includes
future markets. Id. Our circuit has gone further to state that
â[e]ven an author who had disavowed any intention to publish
his work during his lifetime was entitled to protection of his
copyright, first, because the relevant consideration was the
âpotential marketâ and, second, because he has the right to
change his mind.â Worldwide Church of God v. Philadelphia
Church of God, Inc., 227 F.3d 1110, 1119 (9th Cir. 2000).
The Second Circuit is in accord: âIt would . . . not serve the
ends of the Copyright Actâi.e., to advance the artsâif artists
were denied their monopoly over derivative versions of their
creative works merely because they made the artistic decision
not to saturate those markets with variations of their original.â
Castle Rock Entmât, Inc. v. Carol Publâg Grp., 150 F.3d 132,
145-46 (2d Cir. 1998) (internal quotation marks omitted). The
potential market for the photos exists independent of the coupleâs present intent, and the district courtâs decision to the
contrary was error.
[19] Recognizing that fair use focuses on potential, not just
actual, market harm, we note there is little doubt that an actual
market exists for the photos. See Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at
567 (âThe trial court found not merely a potential but an
actual effect on the market.â). Maya does not offer any evidence of the relevant market or the lack of market harm from
its publication other than broad, unsubstantiated statements in
its brief. Campbell, 510 U.S. at 590 (âSince fair use is an
affirmative defense, its proponent would have difficulty carrying the burden of demonstrating fair use without favorable
9198
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
evidence about relevant markets.â (footnotes omitted)). The
magazineâs failure of proof is hardly surprising: The couple
is undisputedly in the business of selling images of themselves and they have done so in the past and Maya itself paid
$1,500 for prior photos. Mayaâs purchase of the pictures
unequivocally demonstrates a market for the coupleâs copyrighted pictures. And Maya is itself a participant in the market
for celebrity wedding photos, as Issue 633 also featured pictures of another celebrity wedding with photos that the magazine purchased. The demand for the pictures in the actual
market, just as in the potential market, dropped significantly
upon Mayaâs first and exclusive publication.
The impact on the potential market for unpublished works
is best illustrated by the Courtâs analysis in Harper & Row:
âThe right of first publication implicates a threshold decision
by the author whether and in what form to release his work.â
471 U.S. at 553 (emphasis added). In other words,
â[p]ublication of an authorâs expression before he has authorized its dissemination seriously infringes the authorâs right to
decide when and whether it will be made public, a factor not
present in fair use of published works.â Id. at 551; id. at 564
(âright of first publication encompasses . . . the choice
whether to publish at allâ). As in Worldwide Church of God,
Monge and Reynoso have âthe right to change [their] mind.â
227 F.3d at 1119. They reasonably could decide to sell the
images for profit in the future, as Reynoso has demonstrably
done in the past. Similarly, photos of Monge have also been
marketed commercially, even to a Maya publication. While
Maya boldly emphasized that its publication was â[f]irst and
exclusive,â the coupleâs intention at the time of the publication did not give Maya license to forever deprive them of their
right to decide when, âwhether and in what form to releaseâ
the photos. Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 551, 553. Thus,
Mayaâs claim that a confidential work receives less copyright
protection because its author intends to maintain confidentiality finds no support; to the contrary, â[i]t has never been seriously disputed that the fact that the plaintiffâs work is
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9199
unpublished . . . is a factor tending to negate the defense of
fair use.â Id. at 551 (internal quotation marks omitted).
[20] Although the photos were unpublished until Maya
printed them for commercial gain, after the publication of
Issue 633, the bottom literally dropped out of the marketâ
neither Maya nor anybody else is likely to purchase these pictures from the couple. And it is obvious that any licensing
value, to the extent the couple could find a willing licensee,
is severely diminished. Mayaâs un-authorized âfirst and exclusiveâ publication of the images substantially harmed the
potential market because the publication directly competed
with, and completely usurped, the coupleâs potential market
for first publication of the photos.
In addition, âto negate fair use one need only show that if
the challenged use should become widespread, it would
adversely affect the potential market for the copyrighted
work.â Id. at 568 (quotations omitted). Unrestricted and widespread reproduction of Mayaâs conduct would not only undermine the ability of celebrities to market images of themselves,
but would also create incentives to pirate intellectual property.
In this case, â[t]here is no analytical difference between
destroying the market for a copyrighted work by producing
and selling cheap copies and destroying the subsequent yearsâ
market for a [work] by blowing its cover.â Chicago Bd. of
Educ., 354 F.3d at 627.
Our focus on the usurpation of the market further underscores the limited extent to which Maya transformed the
works. In a true transformation, such as the parody in Campbell, âit is more likely that the new work will not affect the
market for the original . . . because the parody and the original
usually serve different market functions.â 510 U.S. at 591.
Not so here. Maya did not transform the images and create a
new work; instead, Mayaâs mere duplication of the photos
âserves as a market replacement for [the originals], making it
9200
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
likely that cognizable market harm to the original[s] will
occur.â Id. (citations omitted).11
The curtailment of both the actual and potential market for
the pictures demonstrates that Mayaâs use, even if credited as
mildly transformative, nonetheless functioned as a market
replacement for the photos. In this respect, while we do not
presume market harm, such a presumption would, as the
Supreme Court recognized, make âcommon senseâ here
because Mayaâs commercial use was based on duplication of
the original. Id. (discussing Sony, 464 U.S. at 451).
[21] This factor brings us full circle. We recognize that
market harm may not be presumed in all instances; however,
the harm to both the potential and actual markets based on
wholesale copying of unpublished works demonstrates the
logic of such a presumption in cases âwhen a commercial use
amounts to mere duplication of the entirety of an original.â Id.
Because the facts demonstrate that Mayaâs use was akin to
mere duplicationâaffecting both the actual and potential
market for the photosâeven without the benefit of any presumption, this factor tips against fair use. In this case, the cat
is out of the bag.
III.
DENOUEMENT
Our long journey through the nooks and crannies of fair use
law with our colorful cast of characters comes to an end as we
determine whether the âmost troublesomeâ doctrine in the law
of copyright protects Mayaâs use. This is neither a mechanistic exercise nor a gestalt undertaking, but a considered legal
judgment. Following the statute, we consider each of the four
factors and put them in the judicial blender to find the appropriate balance. In doing so, we are not without guidance. Pre11
For a discussion of the interplay between transformation of the work
and the effect upon the potential market, see Nimmer on Copyright
§ 13.05[4], which explains the tautology inherent in this factor.
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
9201
cedent from both the Supreme Court and our court gives us
a solid foundation to make this judgment. Although we delineate the factors individually, we recognize that our task is to
consider these non-exclusive factors as a total package in
assessing fair use.
Waving the news reporting flag is not a get out of jail free
card in the copyright arena. Iowa State Univ. Research
Found., 621 F.2d at 61 (âThe fair use doctrine is not a license
for corporate theft, empowering a court to ignore a copyright
whenever it determines the underlying work contains material
of possible public importance.â). Mayaâs effort to document
its exposé does not automatically trump the coupleâs rights in
its unpublished photos. Because the minimal transformation
occasioned by Mayaâs use is amply outweighed by its commercial use, the first factor does not support the magazine.
And, even if it did, this factor does not dwarf the effect of the
other factors. Upon balancing the copyright protection for
these marginally creative works against their unpublished status, we see nothing exceptional about this case, and follow the
Supreme Courtâs direction that the second factor weighs
against Maya in this instance. Next, Maya has not demonstrated that the third factor supports fair use. Maya used virtually the entirety of the wedding-related photographs; much
more than was necessary to corroborate its story. Finally, the
district court further erred by holding, without support, that
the coupleâs then-present intention destroyed the potential
market for the photographic works. Mayaâs use negatively
affected both the potential and actual markets for the coupleâs
photos. Simply because the works were yet unpublished did
not give Maya a license to pull the trigger and blow the coupleâs cover.
[22] The balancing of these factors must be weighed
against Mayaâs burden to establish fair use. Without a single
factor tipping in its favor, Maya has not met its burden.
Because Mayaâs affirmative defense of fair use fails as a matter of law, the district court erred by granting summary judg-
9202
MONGE v. MAYA MAGAZINES, INC.
ment in favor of Maya on the basis of fair use.12 Instead, the
district court should have granted the coupleâs summary judgment motion on this issue.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
M. SMITH, Circuit Judge, dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. Copyright is no
