Case Information
*1 K ATZMANN , Chief Judge , K EARSE , and W ESLEY , Circuit Judges .
_______________
Appeal and cross-appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Hellerstein, J. ), granting summary *2 judgment to the defendant as to the plaintiff’s claim of copyright infringement on the ground that the defendant had engaged in fair use. The plaintiff claims that the defendant, a financial news and data reporting service, infringed the plaintiff’s copyright in a sound recording of a foreign public company’s earnings call with invited investment analysts by obtaining a copy of the recording without authorization and making it available to the defendant’s paying subscribers. We hold, upon consideration of the relevant factors, see 17 U.S.C. § 107, that the defendant’s use qualifies as fair use. We further grant the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the defendant’s cross-appeal because the defendant lacks appellate standing and we lack appellate jurisdiction.
For the reasons stated below, the defendant’s cross-appeal is DISMISSED , and the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED .
_______________
J OSHUA P AUL (Jess M. Collen, Kristen Mogavero, on the brief ), C OLLEN IP, Ossining, NY, for
Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee . J OHN M. D I M ATTEO (Thomas H. Golden, Amina Jafri, on the brief ), Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, New York, NY, for Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant .
_______________
K ATZMANN , Chief Judge :
This case concerns the scope of copyright protection afforded to a sound recording of a conference call convened by The Swatch Group Ltd. (“Swatch Group”), a foreign public company, to discuss the company’s recently released earnings report with invited investment analysts. In particular, we must *3 determine whether Defendant-Appellee Bloomberg L.P. (“Bloomberg”), a financial news and data reporting service that obtained a copy of that sound recording without authorization and disseminated it to paying subscribers, may avoid liability for copyright infringement based on the affirmative defense of “fair use.” 17 U.S.C. § 107. We also must determine whether we have jurisdiction to hear Bloomberg’s cross-appeal on the issue of whether the sound recording of the conference call is copyrightable in the first instance.
Plaintiff-Appellant The Swatch Group Management Services Ltd. (“Swatch”), a subsidiary of Swatch Group, appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Hellerstein, J. ), which sua sponte granted summary judgment to Bloomberg on Swatch’s claim of copyright infringement on the ground of fair use. On appeal, Swatch argues that the district court’s ruling was premature because Swatch had not yet had the opportunity to take discovery on three issues: (1) whether Bloomberg obtained and disseminated the sound recording for the purpose of “news reporting” or for some other business purpose; (2) Bloomberg’s state of mind when it obtained and disseminated the recording; and (3) whether Bloomberg subscribers actually *4 listen to sound recordings of earnings calls, or instead glean information about such calls by reading written transcripts or articles. Swatch also contends that the district court erroneously concluded that Swatch had published the sound recording before Bloomberg disseminated it. More broadly, Swatch argues that the district court erred in how it evaluated and balanced the various considerations relevant to fair use. For the reasons set forth below, we agree with the district court and hold that, upon consideration of the relevant factors and resolving all factual disputes in favor of Swatch, Bloomberg has engaged in fair use.
In addition, Bloomberg cross-appeals from the same judgment of the
district court, urging us to hold that Swatch’s sound recording is not protected by
the copyright laws in the first place. Swatch has moved to dismiss the
cross-appeal on the grounds that Bloomberg lacks appellate standing and we lack
appellate jurisdiction. That motion is granted. Because the judgment designated
in Bloomberg’s notice of appeal was entered in Bloomberg’s favor, Bloomberg is
not “aggrieved by the judicial action from which it appeals,”
Great Am. Audio
Corp. v. Metacom, Inc.
,
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court, and we dismiss the cross-appeal.
BACKGROUND
I. Factual Background
The following facts are drawn from the record before the district court and are undisputed unless otherwise noted.
On February 8, 2011, Swatch Group released its 2010 earnings report, a seven-page compilation of financial figures and textual narrative about the company’s financial performance during the prior year. Because Swatch Group is incorporated in Switzerland and its shares are publicly traded on the Swiss stock exchange, Swatch Group is governed by Swiss securities law and the listing rules of the Swiss exchange. In accordance with those rules, Swatch Group filed its earnings report with the exchange before trading opened for the day, and *6 simultaneously posted the report in four languages (English, German, French, and Italian) on the Investor Relations section of its website.
After it released this information to the public, Swatch Group held a conference call with an invited group of financial analysts, as is its custom. Swiss law permits public companies to hold this kind of earnings call with a limited group of analysts, provided that the company does not disclose non-public, significantly price-sensitive facts during the call. Here, Swatch Group did not reveal any significantly price-sensitive facts during the call that had not already been revealed in its previously released report. In advance of the call, Swatch Group sent invitations to all 333 financial analysts who were registered with Swatch Group’s Investor Relations Department. Swatch Group held the call at 2 p.m. local Swiss time, several hours after it had released the earnings report, in order to allow European, American, and Asian analysts to participate. In the end, approximately 132 analysts joined the call. For Swatch Group’s part, its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and three other senior executives participated in the call from the company’s offices in Switzerland.
At Swatch Group’s request, an audio conferencing vendor recorded the entire earnings call as it was in progress. At the beginning of the call, an operator affiliated with the vendor welcomed the analysts to the call and told them, “This call must not be recorded for publication or broadcast.” J.A. 22. Swatch Group’s executives then provided commentary about the company’s financial performance and answered questions posed by fifteen of the analysts. The entire call lasted 132 minutes; Swatch Group executives spoke for approximately 106 of those minutes.
Neither Bloomberg nor any other press organization was invited to the earnings call. Nevertheless, within several minutes after the call ended, Bloomberg obtained a sound recording and written transcript of the call and made them both available online, without alteration or editorial commentary, to subscribers to its online financial research service known as Bloomberg Professional. According to Bloomberg’s promotional materials, Bloomberg Professional provides “[a] massive data stream” with “rich content” that is “unparalleled in scope and depth” and is “delivered to your desktop in real time,” as well as “access to all the news, analytics, communications, charts, *8 liquidity, functionalities and execution services that you need to put knowledge into action.” Id. 640.
On February 10, 2011, after Swatch Group learned that the recording and transcript had been made available on Bloomberg terminals, Swatch Group sent Bloomberg a cease-and-desist letter demanding that they be removed. Bloomberg refused. On February 14, 2011, Swatch then filed its initial complaint against Bloomberg in this action claiming infringement of its copyright in the sound recording of the earnings call. In an agreement signed by representatives of Swatch Group and Swatch on February 14 and 15, 2011, Swatch Group assigned its interest in the copyright to its subsidiary Swatch.
Two weeks later, on March 2, 2011, Swatch filed an application with the U.S. Copyright Office to register a copyright in a sound recording of the earnings call. The Copyright Office and Swatch then exchanged a series of emails over the scope of the claimed copyright. After Swatch narrowed the copyright to cover only the statements made by Swatch Group executives, and not the statements made by the operator or the questions posed by the analysts, the Copyright Office issued a registration on April 27, 2011.
II. Procedural History
As stated, Swatch filed its initial complaint in this action on February 14, 2011. Swatch then twice amended its complaint; the operative pleading thus is the Second Amended Complaint, filed on May 10, 2011. The Second Amended Complaint alleges that, by recording the earnings call and making the recording available to the public, Bloomberg infringed Swatch’s exclusive rights “to reproduce the copyrighted work” and “to distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public.” 17 U.S.C. § 106(1), (3). Swatch does not challenge Bloomberg’s preparation or distribution of the written transcript of the earnings call. [1]
On May 20, 2011, Bloomberg moved under Rule 12(b)(6) to dismiss the
Second Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim, arguing
inter alia
that the
earnings call was not copyrightable in the first place and that Bloomberg’s
copying and dissemination of the call was fair use. The district court denied that
motion in an order entered on August 30, 2011.
Swatch Grp. Mgmt. Servs. Ltd. v.
*10
Bloomberg L.P.
(“
Swatch I
”),
At an in-court conference held two weeks later on September 16, 2011, however, the district court informed the parties of its belief that it could resolve the case through a motion for judgment on the pleadings, and directed Swatch to file such a motion. Swatch moved as directed on October 21, 2011, and Bloomberg opposed. The district court held oral argument on December 12, 2011, at which it denied Swatch’s motion and explained that, in the court’s view, “defendant’s use qualifies as fair use.” J.A. 581. Later that day, the district court issued a summary order stating that it had “preliminarily granted judgment to Defendant on the basis that if Defendant’s alleged actions constitute infringement, they are protected as fair use.” Id. 584. The order directed Swatch to submit “a brief regarding the existence of any triable issues of material fact with respect to Defendant’s fair use affirmative defense.” Id. Swatch did so, pointing out that it had taken no discovery in the action.
In an opinion and order entered on May 17, 2012, the district court
sua
sponte
granted summary judgment to Bloomberg, finding that Bloomberg’s
copying and dissemination of the recording qualify as fair use.
Swatch Grp. Mgmt.
Servs. Ltd. v. Bloomberg L.P.
(“
Swatch II
”),
On June 14, 2012, Swatch filed a timely notice of appeal from that judgment. On June 28, 2012, Bloomberg filed a notice of cross-appeal from the same judgment, and on July 24, 2012, Swatch moved to dismiss the cross-appeal. On August 27, 2012, after the parties had filed a stipulation of dismissal without prejudice to reinstatement under Local Rule 42.1, the district court issued an order dismissing as moot all of Bloomberg’s counterclaims, including the counterclaim for a declaration that Swatch’s copyright is invalid. On November 13, 2012, upon receipt of a letter from Swatch, the Clerk reinstated the appeal. Finally, on January 14, 2013, the motions panel of this Court referred Swatch’s motion to dismiss the cross-appeal to the merits panel.
DISCUSSION
We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment
de novo
, resolving
all ambiguities and drawing all reasonable inferences against the moving party.
See Garanti Finansal Kiralama A.S. v. Aqua Marine & Trading Inc.
,
I. Fair Use
The Copyright Act of 1976 grants copyright holders a bundle of exclusive
rights, including the rights to “reproduce, perform publicly, display publicly,
prepare derivative works of, and distribute copies of” the copyrighted work.
Arista Records LLC v. Doe 3
,
To evaluate whether a particular use qualifies as “fair use,” we must engage in “an open-ended and context-sensitive inquiry.” Blanch v. Koons , 467 F.3d 244, 251 (2d Cir. 2006). The Copyright Act directs that, in determining whether a particular use is fair, “the factors to be considered shall include”:
(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.
17 U.S.C. § 107. Though mandatory, these four factors are non-exclusive.
Moreover, “[a]lthough defendants bear the burden of proving that their use was
fair, they need not establish that each of the factors set forth in § 107 weighs in
their favor.”
NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Inst.
,
The determination of fair use is a mixed question of fact and law.
Harper &
Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters.
,
A. Purpose and Character of Use
We turn first to “the purpose and character of the use.” 17 U.S.C. § 107(1).
This statutory factor encompasses within it a number of distinct considerations,
including “whether [the] use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit
educational purposes,”
id.
; whether the use is “transformative” or “merely
supersedes the objects of the original creation,”
Campbell
,
Swatch argues that this conclusion was error for several reasons. First, Swatch contends that the district court improperly accepted Bloomberg’s unsubstantiated claim that it had engaged in “news reporting.” Swatch notes that *17 Bloomberg itself has characterized its Bloomberg Professional service as delivering both financial “news” and “data,” and argues that the district court erred in denying Swatch the chance to develop facts in discovery to show that the sound recording at issue here is the latter and not the former. Similarly, Swatch argues that the district court improperly denied Swatch the chance to develop facts relevant to Bloomberg’s state of mind. Swatch acknowledges that the district court “credited [Swatch]’s allegations that [Bloomberg] was not authorized to access the Earnings Call and that [Bloomberg]’s publication of the Infringing Work violated [Swatch Group’s] directive,” Swatch II , 861 F. Supp. 2d at 343, but argues that Swatch should have been able to take discovery into whether Bloomberg knew at the time that obtaining and publishing the recording violated Swatch Group’s directive. Swatch also argues that it should have been permitted to take discovery into whether Bloomberg Professional subscribers actually choose to access information about earnings calls by listening to recordings, or instead by reading written transcripts or articles. More broadly, Swatch argues that the district court gave insufficient weight to the fact that *18 Bloomberg’s use was commercial and did not transform the underlying recording.
We find these arguments unpersuasive and hold that the first statutory
factor favors fair use here. To begin with, whether one describes Bloomberg’s
activities as “news reporting,” “data delivery,” or any other turn of phrase, there
can be no doubt that Bloomberg’s purpose in obtaining and disseminating the
recording at issue was to make important financial information about Swatch
Group available to American investors and analysts. That kind of information is
of critical importance to American securities markets. Indeed, as Bloomberg
points out, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has mandated that
when American companies disclose this kind of material nonpublic information,
they must make it available to the public immediately.
See
Regulation FD, 17
C.F.R. § 243.100. At a minimum, a use of copyrighted material that serves this
public purpose is very closely analogous to “news reporting,” which is indicative
of fair use.
See Harper & Row
,
Seizing on Bloomberg’s citation to Regulation FD, Swatch protests that in crafting that regulation, the SEC expressly exempted “foreign private issuer[s]” like Swatch Group that are “incorporated or organized under the laws of [a] foreign country.” 17 C.F.R. §§ 243.101(b), 230.405. In fact, as initially proposed, Regulation FD would have applied to such issuers, see Selective Disclosure and Insider Trading, 64 Fed. Reg. 72,590, 72,597 (Dec. 28, 1999), but the SEC ultimately “determined to exempt foreign private issuers . . . as it has in the past exempted them from certain U.S. reporting requirements such as Forms 10-Q and 8-K,” Selective Disclosure and Insider Trading, 65 Fed. Reg. 51,716, 51,724 (Aug. 24, 2000). Swatch thus argues that giving weight to a public interest in the *20 dissemination of important financial information in this case would in effect erase foreign issuers’ exemption from Regulation FD and set up organizations like Bloomberg as private enforcers of U.S. public disclosure rules.
This argument, however, misapprehends the limited relevance of Regulation FD to this case. The regulation merely provides additional support for a proposition that would be clear in any event: American investors and analysts have an interest in obtaining important financial information about companies whose securities are traded in American markets. The fact that the SEC has chosen not to require foreign issuers to follow certain disclosure rules imposed on domestic issuers in no way implies that information about foreign issuers is irrelevant to American markets. Indeed, Swatch Group recognized as much by scheduling its earnings call at a time when American analysts would be able to attend. Accordingly, contrary to Swatch’s suggestion, nothing in our decision today subjects Swatch Group or any other foreign issuer to the requirements of Regulation FD. Nor do we hold that a foreign issuer’s failure to follow Regulation FD prevents it from enforcing its copyrights in the United States. We merely hold that where a financial research service obtains and disseminates important *21 financial information about a foreign company in order to make that information available to American investors and analysts, that purpose supports a finding of fair use.
Swatch stands on firmer ground when it stresses the commercial nature of
Bloomberg’s use. Section 107 expressly directs courts to consider whether the use
“is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes,” 17 U.S.C.
§ 107(1), and we have held that “[t]he greater the private economic rewards
reaped by the secondary user (to the exclusion of broader public benefits), the
more likely the first factor will favor the copyright holder and the less likely the
use will be considered fair.”
Am. Geophysical Union v. Texaco Inc.
,
Bloomberg’s lack of good faith likewise merits relatively little weight in
this case. “[W]hile the good or bad faith of a defendant generally should be
considered, it generally contributes little to fair use analysis.”
NXIVM
, 364 F.3d at
479 n.2 (citing
Campbell
,
Fair use must also take account of the transformativeness of the use—that
is, the degree to which “the new work merely supersedes the objects 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.”
Campbell
,
In the context of news reporting and analogous activities, moreover, the
need to convey information to the public accurately may in some instances make
it desirable and consonant with copyright law for a defendant to faithfully
reproduce an original work rather than transform it. In such cases, courts often
find transformation by emphasizing the altered purpose or context of the work,
as evidenced by surrounding commentary or criticism.
See, e.g.
,
Bill Graham
Archives
,
To be sure, “[t]he promise of copyright would be an empty one if it could
be avoided merely by dubbing the infringement a fair use ‘news report.’”
Harper
& Row
,
Our decisions in
Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. v. Comline Business Data, Inc.
,
In all three of these cases, however, the defendants appropriated works in
which the copyright owner had transformed raw financial information by
compiling it from multiple sources or by mixing it with their own commentary
and analysis. Here, by contrast, the statements captured in the sound recording,
*27
including the particular modes of expression used by Swatch Group’s executives,
were themselves pieces of financial information. In other words, while our
previous cases concerned the appropriation of secondary sources that had
compiled or commented on financial news, this case concerns the use of a
primary source that itself
was
financial news. We find this distinction significant.
As the Supreme Court has observed, “[t]he news element—the information
respecting current events contained in the literary production—is not the creation
of the writer, but is a report of matters that ordinarily are
publici juris
; it is the
history of the day.”
Harper & Row
,
The discovery Swatch seeks would not alter our analysis. With respect to the request for discovery into whether Bloomberg delivered “news” or “data” to its subscribers, such a distinction raises a semantic rather than factual dispute. It is undisputed that Bloomberg gave subscribers access to the full, unaltered sound recording of Swatch Group’s earnings call as part of its paid financial research service. That is sufficient for present purposes. There is likewise no need for further discovery into Bloomberg’s good or bad faith, for we, like the district *28 court, have resolved that subfactor in Swatch’s favor. We also see no need to resolve how many of Bloomberg’s subscribers chose to listen to the sound recording in question rather than read a written transcript or article. As we have explained, because the sound recording conveys information that a transcript or article cannot, the recording has independent value, regardless of how many Bloomberg subscribers chose to avail themselves of that independent value in this instance.
This first factor accordingly favors fair use.
B. Nature of the Copyrighted Work
The second statutory fair use factor concerns “the nature of the
copyrighted work.” 17 U.S.C. § 107(2). This factor accounts for the fact that “some
works are closer to the core of intended copyright protection than others, with
the consequence that fair use is more difficult to establish when the former works
are copied.”
Campbell
,
Swatch argues that the district court erred in concluding that the recording had been published. Swatch points out that the Copyright Act contemplates two methods of publishing an audio recording: “the distribution of . . . phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending,” or “offering to distribute . . . phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display.” 17 U.S.C. § 101 (defining “publication”). “Phonorecords,” in turn, are defined as “material objects in which sounds . . . are fixed . . . and from which the sounds can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated.” Id. Applying these definitions, Swatch contends that the sound recording of the earnings call has never been published. Simply put, Swatch has never, before or after Bloomberg’s use, “distribut[ed]” a CD or other “material object” embodying the spoken commentary on the earnings call “to the public,” nor has it ever “offer[ed] to *30 distribute” a phonorecord of the call to any “group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display.”
Swatch is unquestionably correct that the earnings call is unpublished
under the definition of “publication” set forth in § 101. But that technical
definition does not control our analysis of this aspect of the second fair use factor.
While we will consider the statutory definition, we also will not blind ourselves
to the fact that Swatch Group invited over three hundred investment analysts
from around the globe to the earnings call, out of which over a hundred actually
attended. Thus, even though the sound recording remains statutorily
unpublished, it is clear that Swatch was not deprived of the ability to “control the
first public appearance of [its] expression,” including “when, where, and in what
form” it appeared.
Harper & Row
,
Swatch insists that because the definitions in § 101 by their terms apply for
all purposes under the Copyright Act “[e]xcept as otherwise provided in this
title,” 17 U.S.C. § 101, the statutory definition of “publication” must control. Not
so. While in general, “[s]tatutory definitions control the meaning of statutory
words,”
Burgess v. United States
,
To the extent the text of § 107 mentions publication, it is only in a closing
proviso cautioning that “[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 the above
factors.” Congress added this proviso to § 107 in 1992,
see
Pub. L. No. 102-492,
106 Stat. 3145 (1992), to clarify, in response to certain decisions of this Court, that
there is no “per se rule barring any fair use of unpublished works.” H.R. Rep. No.
102-836, at 4, 9 (1992) (discussing
New Era Publications International, ApS v. Henry
Holt & Co., Inc.
,
Limiting our consideration of a work’s publication status to the statutory
definition, moreover, would obscure the different purposes served by the
statutory definition and the judicial gloss on “the nature of the copyrighted
work” in the context of fair use. The statutory concept of “publication” serves
numerous purposes, such as triggering the requirement to deposit a copy with
the Library of Congress,
see
17 U.S.C. § 407, measuring the copyright term for
certain categories of works,
see id.
§ 302(c)–(e), setting the circumstances under
which works by foreign authors are protected,
see id.
§ 104(b), and determining
the legal effect of registration,
see id.
§§ 410(c), 412.
See also
1 Nimmer on
Copyright § 4.01 (explaining the significance of publication). Publication as a
judicial gloss on “the nature of the copyrighted work,” by contrast, aims to take
account of “the author’s right to control the first public appearance of his
expression,”
Harper & Row
,
This is not the first time that we have found that the second statutory factor
favors fair use even though the work in question was technically unpublished
under the statutory definition,
see Diamond v. Am-Law Pub. Corp.
,
Swatch does not challenge the district court’s determination that Swatch’s
copyright in the earnings call is “at best . . . ‘thin,’”
Swatch II
, 861 F. Supp. 2d at
341, nor could it. It is well established that “the scope of fair use is greater with
respect to factual than non-factual works.”
New Era Publ’ns
,
[e]ven within the field of fact works, there are gradations as to the relative proportion of fact and fancy. One may move from sparsely embellished maps and directories to elegantly written biography. The extent to which one must permit expressive language to be copied, in order to assure dissemination of the underlying facts, will thus vary from case to case.
Harper & Row
,
There can be no doubt as to the manifestly factual character of the earnings call in this case. The entire copyrighted portion of the call consists of Swatch Group executives explaining the company’s financial performance and outlook to a group of investment analysts. And while we assume without deciding in this appeal that the call contained sufficient original expression—in the form of the *35 executives’ tone, cadence, accents, and particular choice of words—to be copyrightable, the purpose of the call was not in any sense to showcase those forms of expression. Rather, the call’s sole purpose was to convey financial information about the company to investors and analysts. [5]
The through-and-through factual nature of the earnings call places it at the very edge of copyright’s protective purposes. In light of that fact, as well as Swatch Group’s prior dissemination of its executives’ copyrighted expression, we find that the second statutory factor strongly favors fair use.
C. Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Used
We turn now to “the amount and substantiality of the portion used in
relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.” 17 U.S.C. § 107(3). This factor asks
*36
whether “the quantity and value of the materials used are reasonable in relation
to the purpose of the copying.”
Campbell
,
Swatch argues that the district court improperly resolved this factor in Bloomberg’s favor because, as it also argued with respect to the first fair use factor, there are genuine disputes of material fact regarding whether Bloomberg subscribers glean information about earnings calls by listening to audio recordings or instead by reading a written transcript or article.
We are unpersuaded. As an initial matter, we do not understand the
district court to have affirmatively weighed the third statutory fair use factor in
*37
Bloomberg’s favor. Such a holding would have been novel, as “[n]either our
court nor any of our sister circuits has ever ruled that the copying of an entire
work
favors
fair use.”
Bill Graham Archives
,
For the reasons already explained in our discussion of the first fair use factor, we agree with the district court that Bloomberg’s use of the entire recording was reasonable in light of its purpose of disseminating important financial information to American investors and analysts. The recording has independent informational value over and above the value of a written transcript or article, regardless of how many Bloomberg subscribers took advantage of that *38 value in this instance. Like the district court, we accordingly weigh this factor in neither party’s favor.
D. Effect upon the Market for or Value of the Original
The final fair use factor considers “the effect of the use upon the potential
market for or value of the copyrighted work.” 17 U.S.C. § 107(4). This factor
“requires courts to consider not only the extent of market harm caused by the
particular actions of the alleged infringer, but also whether unrestricted and
widespread conduct of the sort engaged in by the defendant would result in a
substantially adverse impact on the potential market for the original.”
Campbell
,
The district court weighed this factor in favor of fair use, noting that “the
relevant market effect is that which stems from [Bloomberg]'s use of the original
expression of Swatch Group's senior officers, not that which stems from
*39
[Bloomberg]'s work as a whole.”
Swatch II
,
Swatch argues that this analysis was erroneous because the district court again assumed that affording American investors and analysts access to the recording, as opposed to a written transcript or article, served the public interest. As we have already explained, we see nothing mistaken in that finding.
Swatch also contends that it was improperly denied the opportunity to take discovery into the existence of a market for audio recordings of earnings calls conducted by foreign companies that, like Swatch Group, are exempt from Regulation FD. Swatch admitted in its answer to Bloomberg’s counterclaims that it “did not seek to profit from the publication of the February 8, 2011 Earnings Call in audio or written format.” J.A. 294. Any discovery thus would concern a *40 potential market, as yet untapped by Swatch, for recordings of exempt earnings calls.
While the loss of a potential yet untapped market can be cognizable under
the fourth fair use factor, the potential market here is defined so narrowly that it
begins to partake of circular reasoning. As Professor Nimmer has observed, “it is
a given in every fair use case that plaintiff suffers a loss of a
potential
market if
that potential is defined as the theoretical market for licensing the very use at
bar.” 4 Nimmer on Copyright § 13.05[A][4]. To guard against this “vice of
circular reasoning,” our case law limits our consideration to a use’s “impact on
potential licensing revenues for traditional, reasonable, or likely to be developed
markets.”
Am. Geophysical Union
,
Moreover, to the extent that a financial news or research organization
might be willing to pay to obtain such recordings, we must bear in mind that
while “[t]he immediate effect of our copyright law is to secure a fair return for an
‘author’s’ creative labor,” the “ultimate aim is, by this incentive, to stimulate
*41
creativity for the general public good.”
Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc.
,
Put differently, the “value” of the copyrighted expression for Swatch
Group in this case lay not in its capacity to generate licensing royalties, but rather
in its capacity to convey important information about the company to interested
investment analysts. By making the recording available to analysts who did not
or could not participate in the call initially, Bloomberg simply widened the
*42
audience of the call, which is consistent with Swatch Group’s initial purpose.
Cf. Sony
,
We accordingly agree with the district court that, balancing the public benefits of the use against the potential private royalties lost, the fourth statutory factor weighs in favor of fair use.
E. Balance of Factors
Balancing the four statutory factors together, we conclude that “the
copyright law’s goal of promoting the Progress of Science and useful Arts would
be better served by allowing [Bloomberg’s] use than by preventing it.”
Bill
Graham Archives
,
II. Bloomberg’s Cross-Appeal
Having resolved Swatch’s main appeal on the ground of fair use without reaching the issue of copyrightability, we must address Swatch’s motion to dismiss Bloomberg’s cross-appeal. That motion is granted, for two reasons.
First, it is axiomatic that “[i]n order to have standing to appeal, a party
must be aggrieved by the judicial action from which it appeals.”
Great Am. Audio
Corp.
,
Bloomberg argues that it is aggrieved by the May 18, 2012 judgment
because it seeks a decision not only as to whether its use was fair use, but also as
*45
to whether Swatch’s recording was validly copyrightable in the first place. To the
extent Bloomberg contends that Swatch’s complaint should be dismissed on the
ground of copyright invalidity in addition to or instead of the ground of fair use,
Bloomberg “is not urging that we alter the judgment in any way, but rather that
we alter the reasons underlying it.”
Allstate Ins. Co. v. A.A. McNamara & Sons, Inc.
,
Second, to the extent that Bloomberg challenges the district court’s
dismissal of its counterclaim seeking a declaration that Swatch’s copyright is
invalid, that ruling of the district court is not properly before us. Federal Rule of
Appellate Procedure 3(c)(1)(B) provides that a notice of appeal “must . . .
designate the judgment, order, or part thereof being appealed.” This requirement
is “jurisdictional in nature.”
Gonzales v. Thaler
,
Bloomberg’s cross-appeal accordingly is dismissed for lack of standing and lack of jurisdiction.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Bloomberg’s cross-appeal is DISMISSED , and the district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED .
Notes
[1] Swatch has disclaimed any such challenge in light of 17 U.S.C. § 114(b), under which a copyright owner’s right to prepare derivative works based on a sound recording “is limited to the right to prepare a derivative work in which the actual sounds fixed in the sound recording are rearranged, remixed, or otherwise altered in sequence or quality.”
[2] Although Ramsey was decided before Rule 56 was amended in 2010 to provide express procedures governing the grant of summary judgment independent of a motion, its statements regarding the care a district court must take before sua sponte granting summary judgment remain good law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, advisory comm. notes (2010 Amendments) (“Subdivision (f) brings into Rule 56 text a number of related procedures that have grown up in practice.”).
[3] We have held that where “the allegedly infringing work fits the description of uses
described in § 107,” there is “a strong presumption that factor one favors the
defendant.”
NXIVM
,
[4] Indeed, in discussing the relevance of publication to fair use in
Harper & Row
, the
Supreme Court indicated that “even substantial quotations might qualify as fair use in a
review of a published work or a news account of a speech that had been delivered to the
public or disseminated to the press.”
[5] Even the portions of the call Swatch quotes as demonstrating the originality of the executives’ statements are overwhelmingly factual in nature. Swatch points to the following passage, for example: So we’re not looking desperately for someone else, but I can tell you that there are many companies out there who would like to benefit from the products, the[] know how, the management capabilities of Swatch Group. And you should ask the other companies out there, even big players, if they would not think that—being part of The Swatch Group, they will do much better. Look at the results and margins and what they are doing, look at the regional trends, I think you would find many of them. Appellant’s Br. 9 (quoting J.A. 153 at 37:25 – 38:43).
