Logan v. Meta Platforms, Inc.
636 F.Supp.3d 1052
N.D. Cal.2022Background
- Plaintiff Don Ramey Logan, a Facebook user and copyright owner of various photographs (some originally posted on Wikimedia under Creative Commons), sued Meta Platforms, Inc. alleging multiple copyright- and trademark-related claims based on Facebook’s embedding functionality.
- Facebook’s embed tool serves HTML that directs browsers to retrieve images from Facebook’s servers; Logan alleges third parties used this to embed his Facebook photos on external sites and thereby infringe his copyrights.
- Logan also alleges Meta itself embedded photos from other sites (notably Wikimedia), saved those copies on Facebook’s servers, and removed or replaced copyright management information (CMI), including author attribution.
- Claims in the First Amended Complaint: Lanham Act § 1125(a) false advertising, direct copyright infringement, inducement/contributory/vicarious (secondary) infringement, and DMCA § 1202 CMI claims.
- Meta moved to dismiss; the district court granted the motion in full but provided leave to amend, dismissing each claim for pleading defects described below.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secondary liability (inducement, contributory, vicarious) | Logan alleges Meta is secondarily liable because third parties embedded his Facebook photos on other websites using Facebook’s embed tool. | Meta: Logan fails the Ninth Circuit "server test" — FAC does not plead any third party actually stored Logan’s photos on their servers, so no direct third-party infringement. | Dismissed with leave to amend: FAC fails to plead third-party direct infringement under the server test, so secondary claims cannot proceed. |
| Direct copyright infringement | Logan alleges Meta directly embedded and saved some of his photos (from Wikimedia) onto Facebook servers. | Meta: Either Users licensed Meta via Facebook Terms of Use, or Logan fails to plead saving/volitional conduct and, crucially, registration of the works. | Dismissed with leave to amend: Court accepts FAC plausibly alleges Meta saved some Wikimedia photos, but dismissal required because Logan failed to plead copyright registration. |
| Lanham Act § 1125(a)(1)(B) false advertising | Logan contends Meta misrepresented authorship/ownership of his photos (and/or stripped licensing info), supporting a false advertising claim. | Meta: Dastar and Ninth Circuit precedent bar claims that repurpose copyright/authorship disputes into Lanham Act false-advertising claims; misattributed authorship is not a covered "nature/characteristic" under § 1125(a)(1)(B). | Dismissed with leave to amend: Court holds misattribution of authorship/licensing is foreclosed by Dastar/Sybersound; plaintiff may amend only if alleging misrepresentations about the photos’ nature/characteristics. |
| DMCA § 1202 (false or removed CMI) | Logan alleges Meta displayed a generic copyright tag claiming Meta as owner and removed Logan’s CMI (name, title, link to license). | Meta: The page-level copyright tag is not CMI "conveyed in connection with" the photos; and FAC fails to plead the required scienter (knowledge / intent to facilitate infringement). | Dismissed with leave to amend: Copyright tag not pled as CMI "in connection with" photos; claims under § 1202(b) fail for inadequate pleading of the required mental state. |
Key Cases Cited
- Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 508 F.3d 1146 (9th Cir. 2007) (establishes "server test" for when online embedding/storage constitutes a "copy" for direct infringement)
- Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 539 U.S. 23 (U.S. 2003) (Lanham Act does not permit repackaged copyright/author-origin claims as false designation of origin)
- Sybersound Records, Inc. v. UAV Corp., 517 F.3d 1137 (9th Cir. 2008) (applies Dastar reasoning to bar Lanham claims about copyright/licensing status)
- Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 881 (U.S. 2019) (registration is a prerequisite to bringing a copyright infringement suit)
- Malibu Textiles, Inc. v. Label Lane Int’l, Inc., 922 F.3d 946 (9th Cir. 2019) (pleading ownership/registration requirements for copyright claims)
- Stevens v. CoreLogic, Inc., 899 F.3d 666 (9th Cir. 2018) (DMCA § 1202 requires showing defendant knew or had reasonable grounds to know removal/alteration would facilitate infringement)