ROBERT STEVENS; STEVEN VANDEL, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CORELOGIC, INC., a Delaware Corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 16-56089
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
June 20, 2018
D.C. No. 3:14-cv-01158-BAS-JLB
FOR PUBLICATION
OPINION
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
Cynthia A. Bashant, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 6, 2017
Pasadena, California
Filed June 20, 2018
Before: A. Wallace Tashima and Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judges, and Robert E. Payne,* District Judge.
Opinion by Judge Berzon
SUMMARY**
Copyright Law
The panel affirmed the district court‘s grant of summary judgment in favor of CoreLogic, Inc., on professional real estate photographers’ claims that CoreLogic removed copyright management information from their photographs and distributed their photographs with the copyright management information removed, in violation of
The photographers alleged that CoreLogic‘s Multiple Listing Services software removed copyright management information metadata from their photographs. The panel held that § 1202(b) requires a showing that the defendant knew the prohibited act would “induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal” infringement. The panel concluded that the photographers did not offer evidence to satisfy this mental state requirement because they did not provide evidence from which one could infer that future infringement was likely, albeit not certain, to occur as a result of the removal or alteration of copyright management information.
The panel affirmed the district court‘s rulings regarding discovery and costs.
COUNSEL
Darren Quinn (argued), Law Offices of Darren J. Quinn, Del Mar, California; Kirk B. Hulett, Hulett Harper Stewart LLP, San Diego, California; Joel B. Rothman, Schneider Intellectual Property Law Group PLLC, Boca Raton,
Daralyn Jeannine Durie (argued), Joseph C. Gratz, and Michael A. Feldman, Durie Tangri LLP, San Francisco, California; for Defendant-Appellee.
OPINION
BERZON, Circuit Judge:
Residential real estate sales today depend largely on online sites displaying properties for sale. Plaintiffs Robert Stevens and Steven Vandel (“the Photographers“) are professional real estate photographers who take photographs of listed properties and license them to real estate agents. The real estate agents, in turn, upload such photographs to Multiple Listing Services (“MLS“) — computerized databases of listed properties — using Defendant CoreLogic‘s software.
In this action against CoreLogic, the Photographers allege that CoreLogic removed copyright management information from their photographs and distributed their photographs with the copyright management information removed, in violation of
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW
A. Metadata
Stevens and Vandel are hired by real estate agents to take digital photographs of houses for sale. The Photographers retain the copyright in those photographs and license them to the agents. Like most digital photographs, at least some of Stevens’ and Vandel‘s photographs contain metadata — i.e., data about the image file itself. Metadata is not visible on the face of the image. Rather, it is either embedded in the digital file or stored outside the image file, such as in a “sidecar” file, and can be viewed using computer programs.
Some metadata is generated automatically by cameras. The Exchangeable Image
Other metadata may be added manually, either by programming the camera or by adding information after taking the picture, using photo editing software. Such metadata is often stored in IPTC format, named for the International Press Telecommunications Council, which developed metadata standards to facilitate the exchange of news. IPTC metadata can include, for example, the title of the image, a caption or description, keywords, information about the photographer, and copyright restrictions. It may be used to check copyright information, to sort images, and to provide accurate search results in an image database or search engine. A small number of fields such as Author/Creator, Copyright, and Caption/Description exist in both EXIF and IPTC formats.
Copyright law restricts the removal or alteration of copyright management information (“CMI“) — information such as the title, the author, the copyright owner, the terms and conditions for use of the work, and other identifying information set forth in a copyright notice or conveyed in connection with the work. See
B. CoreLogic Software
CoreLogic is a California-based corporation that develops and provides software to Multiple Listing Services. Known as one of the “Big 3” real estate software vendors nationally, CoreLogic currently markets, or has previously marketed, several MLS software platforms, including Matrix, InnoVia, Fusion, MLXchange, Tempo 4, and Tempo 5. The Photographers allege that CoreLogic‘s software removed CMI metadata from their photographs, in violation of
Because image files can be very large, CoreLogic‘s MLS software resizes or “downsamples” images. Downsampling entails creating and saving a copy of an uploaded image in a smaller number of pixels and deleting the original image; the process reduces storage size, facilitates computer display, and helps images load faster on web pages. The image processing aspect of CoreLogic‘s software was not developed by CoreLogic entirely on its own. Like virtually all software, CoreLogic‘s software incorporated “libraries” — pre-written code that can be used by a computer program and that enables software to develop in a modular fashion. These libraries are unable to read EXIF data from image files or to write EXIF data to image files. Thus, when images are copied or resized using the code from these pre-existing libraries, metadata attached to those images is not retained.1
After receiving the Photographers’ initial complaint, CoreLogic modified its software to ensure that EXIF metadata is copied and restored to images processed by CoreLogic‘s MLS software. These modifications were made within a few months of receiving the initial complaint, although testing and installation of the revised version on all MLSs using CoreLogic software took several more months. The Photographers contend that, even after these changes, CoreLogic software continues to remove IPTC metadata.
In addition to providing MLS software — which, again, real estate agents use to share information about properties with other agents — CoreLogic also operates the Partner InfoNet program, which allows MLSs to license their aggregated real estate listing data to mortgage lenders and servicers, in exchange for a share of the licensees’ revenue. CoreLogic used photographs taken and owned by the Photographers on Partner InfoNet products.
After the discovery deadline, but before all discovery disputes were resolved, Core Logic filed a motion for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of CoreLogic and denied as moot the Photographers’ motion to compel the production of additional documents. After entry of judgment, CoreLogic filed a Bill of Costs, to which the Photographers objected. The district court denied the Photographers’ motion to re-tax costs with respect to witness fees for CoreLogic corporate employees. This timely appeal followed.
DISCUSSION
A. Violation of 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b)
The Photographers allege that CoreLogic‘s software removed CMI metadata, in violation of
Section 1202(b)(1) provides: “No person shall, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law . . . intentionally remove or alter any copyright management information . . . knowing, or . . . having reasonable grounds to know, that it will induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal an infringement of any” copyright.
The Photographers have not offered any evidence to satisfy that mental state requirement.4 Their primary argument is that, because one method of identifying an infringing photograph has been impaired,5 someone might be able to use their photographs undetected. That assertion rests on no affirmative evidence at all; it simply identifies a general possibility that exists whenever CMI is removed.
As we interpret Section 1202(b), this generic approach won‘t wash. It is a fundamental principle of statutory interpretation that we must “give effect, if possible, to every clause and word of a statute,” Montclair v. Ramsdell, 107 U.S. 147, 152 (1883), “so that no part will be inoperative or superfluous, void or insignificant,” Corley v. United States, 556 U.S. 303, 314 (2009); see also Hibbs v. Winn, 542 U.S. 88, 101 (2004); Astoria Fed. Savs. & Loan Ass‘n v. Solimino, 501 U.S. 104, 112 (1991). To avoid superfluity, the mental state requirement in Section 1202(b) must have a more specific application than the universal possibility of encouraging infringement; specific allegations as to how identifiable infringements “will” be affected are necessary.
At the same time, as the statute is written in the future tense, the Photographers need not show that any specific infringement has already occurred. Also, recognizing that “nothing is completely stable, no plan is beyond alteration,” we have previously observed that statutes requiring knowledge that a future action “will” occur do not “require knowledge in the sense of certainty as to a future act.” United States v. Todd, 627 F.3d 329, 334 (9th Cir. 2010). Rather, knowledge in the context of such statutes signifies “a state of mind in which the knower is familiar with a pattern of conduct” or “aware of an established modus operandi that will in the future cause a person to engage in” a certain act. Id. Applying that concept here, we hold that a plaintiff bringing a Section 1202(b) claim must make an affirmative showing, such as by demonstrating a past “pattern of conduct” or “modus operandi“, that the defendant was aware of the probable future impact of its actions.
Our conclusion about the import of the “induce[d], enable[d], facilitate[d], or conceal[ed]” prong is supported by the legislative history of Section 1202. That provision was enacted to implement obligations of parties to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (“WCT“) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. See S. Rep. No. 105-190, at 5, 9 (1998). The initial draft of the WCT provision regarding CMI provided:
Contracting parties shall make it unlawful for any person knowingly . . . (i) to remove or alter any electronic rights management information without authority; [or] (ii) to distribute, import for distribution or communicate to the public, without authority, copies of works from which electronic rights management information has been removed or altered without authority.
World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO], Basic Proposal for the Substantive Provisions of the Treaty on Certain Questions Concerning the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works to Be Considered by the Diplomatic Conference, art. 14(1), WIPO Doc. CRNR/DC/4 (Aug. 30, 1996).
In response to requests from delegates that the provision be modified to require a connection to an infringing purpose, the provision was redrafted as follows:
Contracting Parties shall provide adequate and effective legal remedies against any person knowingly performing any of the following acts knowing or, with respect to civil remedies having reasonable grounds to know, that it will induce, enable, facilitate or conceal an infringement of any right covered by this Treaty or the Berne Convention: (i) to remove or alter any electronic rights management information without authority; (ii) to distribute, import for distribution, broadcast or communicate to the public, without authority, works or copies of works knowing that electronic rights management information has been removed or altered without authority.
WIPO Copyright Treaty art. 12, Dec. 20 1996 (emphasis added). The revision thus makes clear that the “induce, enable, facilitate or conceal” requirement is intended to
When Congress was considering the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act — a part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA“) that included the new Section 1202 — the Register of Copyrights emphasized that Section 1202‘s provisions “do not apply to those who act innocently. . . . Liability for the removal or alteration of information requires the actor to know or have reason to know that his acts ‘will induce, enable, facilitate or conceal’ infringement.” WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act, and Online Copyright Liability Limitation Act: Hearing Before the H. Subcomm. on Courts and Intellectual Property of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 105th Cong. 51 (1997) (statement of Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office of the United States).
In short, to satisfy the knowledge requirement, a plaintiff bringing a Section 1202(b)(1) claim must offer more than a bare assertion that “when CMI metadata is removed, copyright infringement plaintiffs . . . lose an important method of identifying a photo as infringing.” Instead, the plaintiff must provide evidence from which one can infer that future infringement is likely, albeit not certain, to occur as a result of the removal or alteration of CMI.
2. The Photographers Have Failed to Make the Required Affirmative Showing
The Photographers have not offered any specific evidence that removal of CMI metadata from their real estate photographs will impair their policing of infringement. There are no allegations, for example, of a “pattern of conduct” or “modus operandi” involving policing infringement by tracking metadata. Todd, 627 F.3d at 334. Indeed, the evidence presented cuts against any inference that CMI metadata is of any practical significance to the Photographers in policing copyright infringement of their images.
The Photographers have not, for example, averred that they have ever used CMI metadata to prevent or detect copyright infringement, much less how they would do so. Vandel testified that, before this lawsuit began, he had never “looked at any metadata information on any photograph in an MLS system.” On the only two occasions Vandel became aware of unauthorized use of his photographs, he learned about the unauthorized use from the real estate agent who commissioned the photographs. The agent saw the image elsewhere and contacted Vandel to ask if he had permitted the use. Stevens similarly testified that he had “[n]ever tried to download a photo off an MLS listing . . . and look at its properties, its metadata,” that he “d[id]n‘t think you can pull up metadata off of an MLS listing,” and that he “didn‘t even realize you could click on a picture off the Internet, right-click it, and get metadata off of it.” The testimony of both Stevens and Vandel undermines any ostensible relationship between the removal of CMI metadata and their policing of infringement.
Nor have the Photographers brought forward any evidence indicating that CoreLogic‘s distribution of real estate photographs ever “induce[d], enable[d], facilitate[d], or conceal[ed]” any particular act of infringement by anyone, let alone a pattern of such infringement likely to recur in the future. They identify no instance in which the removal of CMI metadata from any photograph “induce[d], enable[d], facilitate[d] or conceal[ed] an infringement.”6
Because the Photographers have not put forward any evidence that CoreLogic knew its software carried even a substantial risk of inducing, enabling, facilitating, or concealing infringement, let alone a pattern or probability of such a connection to infringement, CoreLogic is not liable for violating
B. Discovery Rulings
The Photographers also appeal the district court‘s denial as moot of their motion to compel the production of documents, as well as the court‘s related failure to address their Rule 56(d) request. See
Before discovery closed in September 2015, the Photographers filed motions to compel the production of certain documents and certain supplemental responses to interrogatories. The district court granted in part and denied in part those motions, ordering CoreLogic to identify in a privilege log any responsive documents it claimed were privileged. CoreLogic complied, serving an initial privilege log consisting of 1,049 entries, and later a revised privilege log.
CoreLogic filed a motion for summary judgment before the district court ruled on the privilege claims. In addition to a memorandum of points and authorities opposing CoreLogic‘s motion for summary judgment on the merits, counsel for the Photographers filed a
The photographers subsequently moved to compel the production of 603 e-mails and instant messages identified in the revised privilege log. The district court, however, granted summary judgment to
District court discovery rulings denying a motion to compel discovery are ordinarily reviewed for abuse of discretion. See Hallett v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir. 2002); see also Morton v. Hall, 599 F.3d 942, 945 (9th Cir. 2010); Qualls ex rel. Qualls v. Blue Cross of Cal., Inc., 22 F.3d 839, 844 (9th Cir. 1994). When the district court denies a motion to compel additional discovery as moot without considering its merits, however, the district court does not exercise any substantive discretion about the scope of discovery, so we review the denial of discovery de novo. Clark v. Capital Credit & Collection Servs., Inc., 460 F.3d 1162, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006); Garrett v. City & Cty. of San Francisco, 818 F.2d 1515, 1518 n.3, 1519 (9th Cir. 1987).
Similarly, if a district court implicitly denies a
Nonetheless, reviewing de novo the denials of the motion to compel and of the
The denial of the
This showing cannot, of course, predict with accuracy precisely what further discovery will reveal; the whole point of discovery is to learn what a party does not know or, without further information, cannot prove. See, e.g., Pac. Fisheries Inc. v. United States, 484 F.3d 1103, 1111 (9th Cir. 2007) (“[T]he purpose of discovery is to aid a party in the preparation of its case . . . .“);
The Photographers did not comply with those requirements here. Extensive discovery had taken place before the district court ruled on CoreLogic‘s motion for summary judgment. The Photographers had taken depositions of 16 CoreLogic employees, served and received responses to 42 interrogatories, and served 114 requests for production of documents. The additional information sought was a general request for all allegedly privileged documents where no attorney was listed as an author or recipient, coupled with a bare assertion that the “documents are likely to be directly relevant to each of the elements in
We therefore affirm the denial of the Photographers’ request to the district court to delay a decision on summary judgment and permit additional discovery.
C. Motion to Retax Costs
Finally, the district court did not err in awarding fees for corporate witnesses as costs and denying the Photographers’ motion to retax costs.
As a general rule, parties may not recover witness fees for their own attendance. See, e.g., Barber v. Ruth, 7 F.3d 636, 646 (7th Cir. 1993), superseded on other grounds by amendment to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as recognized in Little v. Mitsubishi Motors N. Am., Inc., 514 F.3d 699, 701–02 (7th Cir. 2008). The expenses of corporate directors or officers may, however, be taxable, even when those individuals are testifying on behalf of a corporate party to the suit, provided “[n]o recovery . . . [is] sought from [the officers] individually.” See Kemart Corp. v. Printing Arts Research Labs., Inc., 232 F.2d 897, 901 (9th Cir. 1956) (citation omitted); 10 Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2678 (3d ed. 1998) (“The expenses of witnesses who are themselves parties normally are not taxable. For example, real parties in interest or parties suing in a representative capacity are not entitled to fees or allowances as witnesses. The expenses of a director or officer of a corporation who is not personally involved in the litigation may be taxable, however, even if that individual is testifying on behalf of the organization and the latter is a party to the suit.“). “The allowance or disallowance of items of costs is determined by statute, rule, order, usage, and practice of the instant court.” Kemart, 232 F.2d at 899.
Southern District of California Local Rule 54.1(b)(4)(c) specifically provides that “[w]itness fees for officers and employees of a corporation” may be recoverable as costs “if they are not parties in their individual capacities.” S.D. Cal. Civ. R. 54.1(b)(4)(c). During the course of this litigation, the Photographers took one
AFFIRMED.