Sony BMG Music Entertainment et al v. Rezabala, No. 2:2008cv01520 - Document 20 (E.D. Cal. 2009)
Court Description: FINDINGS and RECOMMENDATIONS signed by Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows on 9/30/09 RECOMMENDING that plaintiffs' motion for entry of default judgment be GRANTED. Judgment should be rendered in the amount of $5,250.00 in statutory damages and $420.00 in costs. A permanent injunction should be granted against defendant as specified herein. Motion referred to Judge Morrison C. England, Jr; Objections due within 20 days after being served with these findings and recommendations. (Becknal, R)
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Sony BMG Music Entertainment et al v. Rezabala Doc. 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, et al., Plaintiffs, No. CIV S- 08-1520 MCE GGH 12 vs. 13 YOCONDA REZABALA, 14 15 16 17 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS Defendant. ___________________________/ Plaintiffs’ amended motion for entry of default judgment against defendant 18 Rezabala, filed July 21, 2009, was submitted on the record. Local Rule 78-230(h). Upon review 19 of the motion and the supporting documents, and good cause appearing, the court issues the 20 following findings and recommendations. 21 BACKGROUND 22 On July 1, 2008, plaintiffs filed the underlying complaint in this action against 23 defendant Rezabala, alleging defendant was using the internet to illegally download various 24 copyrighted sound recordings and distribute them. The summons and complaint were personally 25 served on defendant Rezabala on August 11, 2008. Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e)(2). Pacific Atlantic 26 Trading Co. v. M/V Main Express, 758 F.2d 1325, 1331 (9th Cir. 1985) (default judgment void 1 Dockets.Justia.com 1 without personal jurisdiction). Defendant has failed to file an answer or otherwise appear in this 2 action. On September 26, 2008, the clerk entered default against defendant Rezabala. 3 Notice of entry of default and the instant motion for default judgment and 4 supporting papers were served by mail on defendant at her last known address. Defendant filed 5 no opposition to the motion for entry of default judgment. Plaintiffs seek an entry of default 6 judgment in the amount of $5,250.00 in statutory damages, $420.00 in costs, and a permanent 7 injunction. 8 DISCUSSION 9 Entry of default effects an admission of all well-pleaded allegations of the 10 complaint by the defaulted party. Geddes v. United Financial Group, 559 F.2d 557 (9th Cir. 11 1977). The court finds the well pleaded allegations of the complaint state a claim for which 12 relief can be granted. Anderson v. Air West, 542 F.2d 1090, 1093 (9th Cir. 1976). 13 To prevail on a claim for copyright infringement, plaintiff must establish 14 ownership of a valid copyright and unauthorized copying of original elements of the work by the 15 defendant. Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 361 (1991). Plaintiffs 16 have alleged ownership of valid copyright registrations in the sound recordings that defendant 17 allegedly downloaded illegally from the Internet. See Complaint (“Compl.”), at ¶¶ 9-10; Ex. A. 18 Plaintiffs have also alleged unauthorized reproduction and distribution of the protected works. 19 Compl., at ¶ 13. The complaint is sufficiently pled and states a claim for copyright infringement. 20 Plaintiffs need not prove actual damages to recover the statutory damages they 21 seek. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. v. Krypton Broad. of Birmingham, Inc., 259 F.3d 1186, 22 1194 (9th Cir. 1997). Plaintiffs seek statutory damages as authorized by 17 U.S.C. § 504(c), in 23 the amount of $5,250.00. Compl., at ¶ 17; Motion for Entry of Default Judgment (“Motion”), at 24 7-8. The court notes that defendant did not bother to respond to this action in any way, and 25 thereby forfeited any argument she may have had to contest the amount of damages. The court 26 deems defaulting defendant, by her failure to appear or defend this action, to have waived any 2 1 objections to the statutory source of the damages prayed for in the instant motion. The 2 memorandum of points and authorities and affidavits filed in support of the motion for entry of 3 default judgment supports the finding that plaintiffs are entitled to the relief requested. There are 4 no policy considerations which preclude the entry of default judgment of the type requested. See 5 Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1471-1472 (9th Cir. 1986). 6 Remedies 7 Plaintiffs seek statutory damages in the amount of $5,250.00, a permanent 8 injunction and an award of costs in the amount of $420.00 for filing fees and service of process. 9 Plaintiffs do not seek attorneys’ fees. 10 A. Injunction 11 Plaintiffs seek an injunction in the following form to enjoin defendant’s wrongful 12 conduct: 13 Defendant shall be and hereby is enjoined from directly or indirectly infringing Plaintiffs’ rights under federal or state law in the Copyrighted Recordings and any sound recording, whether now in existence or later created, that is owned or controlled by Plaintiffs (or any parent, subsidiary, or affiliate record label of Plaintiffs ) (“Plaintiffs’ Recordings”), including without limitation by using the Internet or any online media distribution system to reproduce (i.e., download) any of Plaintiffs’ Recordings, to distribute (i.e., upload) any of Plaintiffs’ Recordings, or to make any of Plaintiffs’ Recordings available for distribution to the public, except pursuant to a lawful license or with the express authority of Plaintiffs. Defendant also shall destroy all copies of Plaintiffs’ Recordings that Defendant has downloaded onto any computer hard drive or server without Plaintiffs’ authorization and shall destroy all copies of those downloaded recordings transferred onto any physical medium or device in Defendant’s possession, custody, or control. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Motion, at 8. Federal copyright laws authorize injunctive relief for copyright infringement. 23 Elektra Ent. Group, Inc. v. Crawford, 226 F.R.D. 388, 393 (C.D. Cal. 2005 (citing 17 U.S.C. § 24 501, 502(a)). “A court may order a permanent injunction ‘to prevent or restrain infringement of 25 [the owner’s] copyright.’ Generally, a showing of copyright infringement liability and the threat 26 of future violations is sufficient to warrant a permanent injunction.” Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. 3 1 Maphia, 948 F. Supp. 923, 940 (N.D. Cal. 1996) (quoting 17 U.S.C. § 502) (finding access to 2 equipment that allowed defendant to continue to illegally download and distribute game 3 programs constituted a threat of continued violation); see also, MAI Systems Corp. v. Peak 4 Computer, Inc., 991 F.2d 511, 520 (9th Cir. 1993); Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. 5 Streeter, 438 F. Supp. 2d 1065, 1073 (D. Ariz. 2006) (granting a permanent injunction upon entry 6 of default judgment against defendant in a copyright infringement action). 7 Here, as discussed above, plaintiffs have established defendant’s liability for 8 copyright infringement. Furthermore, in proving up their claim, plaintiffs have established 9 defendant’s access to the online media distribution system through which the infringement 10 occurred. Infringement by such means exposes plaintiffs to “massive, repeated, and worldwide 11 infringement” of their copyrighted sound recordings. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 438 F. 12 Supp. 2d at 1073 (“When digital works are distributed via the internet, as in this case, every 13 downloader who receives one of the copyrighted works from Defendant is in turn capable of also 14 transmitting perfect copies of the works. Accordingly, the process is potentially exponential 15 rather than linear, threatening virtually unstoppable infringement of the copyright.”) (quoting A 16 & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004, 1013-14 (9th Cir. 2001)). Monetary damages 17 cannot adequately compensate this widespread infringement. 18 Finally, defendant’s failure to respond to this lawsuit suggests an indifference to 19 the unlawful nature of her infringing activity. Accordingly, based on the foregoing, this court 20 finds that the requested injunctive relief is appropriate and recommends that it be granted. 21 B. Statutory Damages 22 Where a plaintiff prevails in a copyright infringement case, 17 U.S.C. § 504(c) 23 provides for an award of statutory damages in a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000 24 for each infringement, as the court considers just. Moreover, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(2), a 25 court has discretion to increase the award of statutory damages to $150,000 per infringement 26 where an infringer’s conduct is found to be willful. “Statutory damages are particularly 4 1 appropriate in a case . . . in which defendant has failed to mount any defense or to participate in 2 discovery, thereby increasing the difficulty of ascertaining plaintiff’s actual damages.” Jackson 3 v. Sturkie, 255 F. Supp. 2d 1096, 1101 (N.D. Cal. 2003). 4 Here, plaintiffs seek the minimum amount ($750) for each alleged act of 5 infringement (seven in total), for a total of $5,250.00. See Motion, at 7-8; Compl., Ex. A. The 6 court finds that the amount of statutory damages sought by plaintiffs is reasonable and just. 7 C. Costs 8 Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 505, courts have discretion to award “the recovery of full 9 costs and reasonable attorney fees” in cases of copyright infringement. 17 U.S.C. § 505. Here, 10 plaintiffs seek costs in the amount of $420.00 for filing fees and service of process. The court 11 recommends that plaintiffs’ request for an award of costs in the amount of $420.00 be granted. 12 CONCLUSION 13 In view of the foregoing findings, it is the recommendation of this court that 14 plaintiffs’ motion for entry of default judgment be GRANTED. Judgment should be rendered in 15 the amount of $5,250.00 in statutory damages and $420.00 in costs. A permanent injunction 16 should be granted against defendant as specified herein. 17 These findings and recommendations are submitted to the United States District 18 Judge assigned to the case, pursuant to the provisions of Title 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(l). Within ten 19 days after being served with these findings and recommendations, any party may file written 20 objections with the court and serve a copy on all parties. Such a document should be captioned 21 “Objections to Magistrate Judge’s Findings and Recommendations.” Any reply to the objections 22 shall be served and filed within ten days after service of the objections. The parties are advised 23 \\\\ 24 \\\\ 25 \\\\ 26 \\\\ 5 1 that failure to file objections within the specified time may waive the right to appeal the District 2 Court's order. Martinez v. Ylst, 951 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir. 1991). 3 DATED: 09/03/09 4 /s/ Gregory G. Hollows ___________________________________ GREGORY G. HOLLOWS UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 5 6 GGH:076 7 SonyBMG1520.def.wpd 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 6
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