Justin.tv Mostly Eliminates Zuffa’s Trademark and Communications Act Claims Over User-to-User Live Video Streaming

By Eric Goldman

Zuffa LLC v. Justin.tv, Inc., 2012 WL 764424 (D. Nev. March 8, 2012). The complaint.

[Note: I’ve worked with Justin.tv on related issues, but I’m speaking for myself in this post]

Justin.tv allows user-to-user live video streaming. Zuffa runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which broadcasts pay-per-view fights. This lawsuit relates to the UFC 121 Lesnar v. Velasquez pay-per-view fight from October 2010, which Justin.tv users rebroadcast. Zuffa sued Justin.tv for a variety of claims. In this ruling, Justin.tv successfully dismisses most of the trademark claims and all of the Communications Act claims.

Trademark. Justin.tv argued that Zuffa’s trademark claims were Dastar-ed. The court partially disagrees because Zuffa wasn’t claiming reverse passing off. Nevertheless, Dastar wipes out Zuffa’s claims about any trademarks actually embedded in the video stream, such as Zuffa’s trademarked Octagon fighting ring, because trademarks would allow Zuffa to control the copyrighted material even after the copyright term expired. Instead, “the Court limits Zuffa’s trademark claims only to the display of Zuffa’s trademarkswhich are not an inherent part of the video broadcast.” Whatever that means…! In a footnote, the court also “expresses extreme doubt” about Zuffa’s trademark inducement claim.

Communications Act. Zuffa’s claims relate to the “stealing cable” provisions. Justin.tv claimed that 47 USC 230 applies, a pretty logical argument given that Zuffa is bringing a non-IP claim against Justin.tv for third party content. However, the court sidesteps the Section 230 issue, saying it’s never been applied to the Communications Act (true) and that the court couldn’t find any analogous “stealing cable” claim against websites, and it didn’t want to touch this “novel” issue.

Instead, the court dismisses the “stealing cable” claim on its elements. The court says:

In essence, Zuffa alleges that Justin.tv’s users copied Zuffa’s UFC event and then rebroadcast the UFC event over the internet. This is not the type of conduct properly addressed by the Communications Act, but by copyright law (and, potentially, trademark law) because Justin.tv had no relationship with the original cable or satellite signal: by the allegations, Justin.tv did not receive or intercept any actual cable or satellite signal or broadcast. The Court finds no evidence in the statutory language, other cases, or legislative history that the Communications Act addresses this type of conduct or was meant to bolster or act as a separate type of copyright claim.

In a footnote, the court notes the troubling implications of Zuffa’s argument:

if the Court were to allow claims such as these, it would have to allow similar Communications Act claims against scores of “cloud computing” service providers such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon.com, Dropbox, Box.net, and others because Jusint.tv’s [sic] particular streaming service would be irrelevant. As an example, say a person took a snippet (or longer) of video of a UFC match being broadcast on their television with their iPhone, Windows Phone, etc. The iPhone then automatically uploads that video to one of dozens of cloud storage systems such as Apple’s iCloud. The Court refuses to find that Apple (or Microsoft, etc.) would be liable under the Communications Act for merely receiving and storing this data under the Communications Act. Yet, Zuffa arguesfor exactly this result when it argues that Justin.tv’s mere receipt of this video stream makes Justin.tv liable. In passing the Communications Act, Congress did not intend such a result, and this Court will not broaden the effect of the statute in this manner.

Amen!

At its core, the lawsuit is about copyright infringement, and Justin.tv didn’t attempt to dismiss that claim. So the case hasn’t gotten to the real meaty claim yet. It’s my (presumably biased) position that Justin.tv should clearly qualify for the 512(c) safe harbor.