Kaye Scholer
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Case3:14-cv-00273-EDL Document1 Filed01/16/14 Page1 of 21 1 Rhonda R. Trotter (State Bar No. 169241) Email address: [email protected] 2 Oscar Ramallo (State Bar No. 241487) Email address: [email protected] 3 KAYE SCHOLER LLP 1999 Avenue of the Stars 4 Suite 1600 Los Angeles, California 90067 5 Telephone: (310) 788-1000 Facsimile: (310) 788-1200 6 Attorneys for Plaintiff 7 PRINCE ROGERS NELSON 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 PRINCE ROGERS NELSON, an ) Case No. 13 individual, ) ) 14 Plaintiff, ) ) PLAINTIFF PRINCE ROGERS 15 v. ) NELSON’S COMPLAINT ) 16 ) (1) Direct Copyright DAN CHODERA, an individual; ) Infringement 17 KARINA JINDROVA, an individual; ) DOE 1 (aka PURPLEHOUSE2); DOE ) (2) Unauthorized Fixation 18 2 (aka DABANG319); DOE 3(aka ) PURPLEKISSTWO); DOE 4 (aka ) (3) Contributory Copyright 19 WORLDOFBOOTLEG); DOE 5 (aka ) Infringement & Bootlegging FUNKYEXPERIENCEFOUR); DOE ) 20 6 (aka NPRUNIVERSE); DOE 7 (aka ) PSPMUSICBLOG); DOE 8 (aka ) DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL 21 THEULTIMATE ) BOOTLEGEXPERIENCE); and ) 22 DOES 9-20). ) ) 23 Defendants. ) ) 24 25 26 27 28 COMPLAINT Case3:14-cv-00273-EDL Document1 Filed01/16/14 Page2 of 21 1 COMPLAINT 2 For his Complaint, Plaintiff Prince Rogers Nelson (“Prince”) alleges as 3 follows: 4 JURISDICTION AND VENUE 5 1. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 6 and 1338(a). 7 2. Venue is proper in this judicial district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2) 8 in that a substantial part of the events or omissions giving raise to the claim 9 occurred in this district. 10 THE PARTIES AND THEIR CONDUCT 11 Prince 12 3. Prince, doing business as Controversy Music, is the owner of more than 13 600 copyright registrations for various musical compositions. Prince often puts on 14 live performances of musical works. 15 Defendants Generally 16 4. The Defendants in this case engage in massive infringement and 17 bootlegging of Prince’s material. For example, in just one of the many takedown 18 notices sent to Google with respect to Doe 2 (aka DaBang319), Prince identified 19 363 separate infringing links to file sharing services, with each link often containing 20 copies of bootlegged performances of multiple separate musical compositions. 21 Thus, each Defendant is responsible for up to thousands of separate acts of 22 infringement and bootlegging. 23 5. The Defendants rely on either Google’s Blogger platform or Facebook, or 24 both, to accomplish their unlawful activity. Blogger is a service provided by 25 Google that allows individuals to create personal blogs. Defendants, rather than 26 publishing lawful content to their blogs, typically publish posts that list all the 27 songs performed at a certain Prince live show and then provide a link to a file 28 sharing service where unauthorized copies of the performance can be downloaded. 1 61825940_3.DOCX COMPLAINT Case3:14-cv-00273-EDL Document1 Filed01/16/14 Page3 of 21 1 Defendants use their Facebook accounts to post similar unlawful content directly to 2 their Facebook accounts or to direct users to their blogs, or both. 3 6. The true names and capacities of Does 1-20 are unknown to Prince. As to 4 Does 1-8, their true names are unknown because these Does operate Google 5 Blogger accounts and/or Facebook accounts under pseudonyms. These blogs and 6 Facebook accounts are used to facilitate copyright infringement and distribution of 7 bootlegged copies of Prince’s live performances. 8 7. On information and belief, Does 9-20 act in concert with the other 9 Defendants in this case with respect to the unlawful activity alleged herein. Indeed, 10 Defendants constitute an interconnected network of bootleg distribution, which is 11 able to broadly disseminate unauthorized copies of Prince’s musical compositions 12 and live performances. On information and belief, some or all of the Defendants 13 directly communicate with each other to obtain and distribute the unlawful material 14 described in this Complaint. 15 8. On information and belief, each of the Defendants was the agent, servant, 16 employee, joint venturer and/or co-conspirator of each of the other Defendants. On 17 information and belief, each of the acts alleged to have been done by each 18 Defendant was done in that Defendant’s capacity as the agent, servant, employee, 19 joint venturer and/or co-conspirator of the other Defendants. 20 9. Each of the Defendants has purposefully directed his activities in 21 California, consummated transactions with residents of California and purposefully 22 availed himself of the privilege of conducting activities of California, thereby 23 invoking the benefits and protections of its laws. 24 10. In particular, Defendants use Facebook and Google’s Blogger forum to 25 conduct the infringing activity alleged herein, which services are widely known to 26 be headquartered in California and in this judicial district. Thus, Defendants have 27 consummated transactions with residents of California and purposefully availed 28 themselves of the privilege of conducting activities in California. 2 61825940_3.DOCX COMPLAINT Case3:14-cv-00273-EDL Document1 Filed01/16/14 Page4 of 21 1 11. Moreover, by using these services, the Defendants have expressly 2 invoked the benefits and protections of California’s laws. Indeed, Facebook’s terms 3 and conditions state “You will resolve any claim, cause of action or dispute (claim) 4 you have with us arising out of or relating to this Statement or Facebook 5 exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California or a 6 state court located in San Mateo County, and you agree to submit to the personal 7 jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of litigating all such claims. The laws of 8 the State of California will govern this Statement, as well as any claim that might 9 arise between you and us, without regard to conflict of law provisions.” 10 12. Similarly, the terms and conditions governing Google’s Blogger service 11 state that “The laws of California, U.S.A., excluding California’s conflict of laws 12 rules, will apply to any disputes arising out of or relating to these terms or the 13 Services. All claims arising out of or relating to these terms or the Services will be 14 litigated exclusively in the federal or state courts of Santa Clara County, California, 15 USA, and you and Google consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.” 16 13. In addition to conducting their infringing activities in California, the 17 Defendants have aimed the harm caused by their activities to this state. On 18 information and belief, a substantial portion of the recipients of the infringing files 19 are located in California, and California residents constitute a substantial portion of 20 the fan-base of these infringing blogs and Facebook accounts. Thus, Defendants 21 committed intentional acts of infringement, expressly aimed at California, causing 22 harm that Defendants know is likely to be suffered in California. 23 14. Moreover, the claims in this case directly arise out of and relate to the 24 Defendants’ activities in California, and the exercise of jurisdiction comports with 25 fair play and substantial justice. 26 15. Further, to the extent that any Defendant resides outside of the United 27 States, such Defendant has intentionally targeted the harm of their conduct to the 28 United States. In particular, Defendants are well aware that Prince is a citizen and 3 61825940_3.DOCX COMPLAINT Case3:14-cv-00273-EDL Document1 Filed01/16/14 Page5 of 21 1 resident of United States and would thus suffer harm from their unlawful activities 2 here in the United States. Moreover, a substantial portion of people interested in 3 downloading unauthorized Prince material are in the United States, and Defendants 4 directly target their unlawful content to such people. Thus, while foreign 5 Defendants are subject to jurisdiction in California for the reasons described above, 6 in the alternative, they are subject to jurisdiction in the United States as a whole 7 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2). 8 16. Finally, as alleged more specifically below, Defendants Chodera and 9 Jindrova have expressly consented to this Court’s jurisdiction. 10 Doe 1 - PurpleHouse2 11 17. PurpleHouse2 maintained a blog at PurpleHouse2.blogspot.co.uk and 12 several other mirror blogs on the Blogger platform. He also maintained a Facebook 13 account at www.facebook.com/pages/Prince-Purple-House. The Facebook account 14 directed users to his blogs and his blogs directed users to file sharing services to 15 obtain unauthorized copies of bootlegged Prince performances. For example, one 16 blog post contained a link to download bootleg recordings of the following musical 17 compositions: 18 19 COMPOSITION REGISTRATION NUMBER 20 Endorphinmachine PAu001731960 21 Bambi PA0000523663 22 Let’s Go Crazy Reloaded PA0000224634 23 24 Doe 2 - DaBang319 25 18. DaBang319 maintained a blog at Dabang319.blogspot.com. He also 26 maintained a Facebook account at www.facebook.com/DaBang319. The Facebook 27 account directed users to his blog and the blog directed users to file sharing services 28 4 61825940_3.DOCX COMPLAINT Case3:14-cv-00273-EDL Document1 Filed01/16/14 Page6 of 21 1 to obtain unauthorized copies of bootlegged Prince performances. For example, 2 one blog post contained a link to download bootleg recordings of the following 3 musical compositions: 4 5 COMPOSITION REGISTRATION NUMBER 6 Days of Wild PAu001989947 7 1999 PAu000440507 / PA0000157921 8 Something in the Water (Does Not PA0000157928 9 Compute) 10 Let’s Go Crazy PA0000217248 11 She’s Always in My Hair PAu000722566 12 Nothing Compares 2 U PA0000261000 13 Satisfied PA0000427521 14 Housequake PA0000339606 15 When Doves Cry PA0000225932 / PA0000220373 / 16 PAu000609914 17 Sign O’ the Times PA0000322108 18 Most Beautiful Girl in the World PA0000692506 19 Hot Thing PA0000339611 20 I Would Die 4 U PA0000247244 / PA0000241298 / 21 PA0000217252 / PAu000613662 22 Let’s Work PA0000130921 23 U Got the Look PA0000339613 24 Purple Rain PAu000613664 / PA0000217254 25 26 Doe 3 - PurpleKissTwo 27 19.