MITCHELL SILBERBERG & KNUPP LLP MARC E. MAYER (SEN 190969) 2 JILL P. RUBIN (SBN 240019) 11377 West Olympic Boulevard 3 Los Angeles, California 90064-1683 • Telephone: (310) 312·2000 4 . Facsunile: (310) 312·3100 5 Attorneys for Defendant Happy Mutants LLC 6 7 8 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 9 FOR THE COUNTY OF MARIN 10 II MAGICJACK, LP, CASE NO. CIV 091108 12 Plaintiff, NOTICE OF MOTION AND SPECIAL MOTION OF DEFENDANT HAPPY 13 v. MrnTANTSLLCTOS~KE COMPLAINT OF PLAINTIFF 14 HAPPY MUTANTS LLC, MAGICJACK, LP PURSUANT TO CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-SLAPP STATUTE, 15 Defendant CAL. CODE CIV. P. § 425.16; 1---------------' MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND 16 AUTHORITIES . 17 DECLARATIONS OF CORY DOCTOROW, MARC E. MA YER, AND JILL P. RUBIN 18 FILED CONCURRENTLY HEREWITH' 19 Date: May 27, 2009 Time: . 9:00 a.m. 20 Location: Dept J Judge: Honorable Vema Adams 21 22 File Date: March 11, 2009 23 Trial Date; 'IBD 24 25 26 27 Mi\I:hcll 28 Sill><d>org & KnuppLLP 2166413.9 Special Motion to Strike 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Page(s) 3 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 4 I. STATEMENT OF FACTS ................................................................................................. 3 5 II. THE LEGAL STANDARD ................................................................................................ 8 6 III. MAGICJACK'S CLAIMS ARISE FROM PROTEClED ACTIVITY, NAMELY SPEECH AND COMMENT ON AN IMPORTANT PUBLIC 7 ISSUE ............................................................................................................................... 10 8 IV. MAGICJACK CANNOT ESTABLISH A PROBABILITY THAT IT WILL PREVAIL ON THE MERITS .......................................................................................... 12 9 A. MagicJack's Defamation Claim Is Meritless ........................................................ 12 10 B. MagicJack's Unfair Competition Claim Also Fails.............................................. 15 11 V. BOING BOING IS ENTITLED TO RECOVER ITS ATTORNEYS' FEES .................. 15 12 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 15 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Mitchell 28 Silberberg & KnuppLLf> 2166413.9 Special Motion to Strike TABLE OF AUTHORITIES 2 Page(s) 3 CASES 4 Annette F. v. Sharon S., 119 Cal. App. 4th 1146 (2004) ......................................................................................... 10 5 Barrett v. Rosenthal. 6 40 Cal. 4th 33 (2006) ........................................................................................................ 10 7 Beilenson v. Superior Court, 8 44 Cal. App. 4th 944 (1996) ............................................................................................. 14 9 Blatty v. New York Times Co., 42 Cal. 3d 1033 (1986) ..................................................................................................... 15 10 Bragg v. Linden Research. Inc., II 487 F.Supp. 2d 593 (E.D. Pa. 2007) ................................................................................. II 12 Carpenter v. Jack In The Box Corp., 13 151 Cal. App. 4th 454 (2007) ........................................................................................... 15 14 Carry. Warden, 159 Cal. App. 3d 1166 (1984) ........................................................................................... 14 15 Carver v. Bonds. 16 135 CaL App. 4th 328 (2005) ........................................................................................... 11 17 Chavez v. Mendoza, 18 94 Cal. App. 4th 1083 (2001) ............................................................................................. 9 19 Church of Scientology v. Wollersheim, 42 Cal. App. 4th 628 (1996) ............................................................................................... 9 20 Comb v. PayPal, Inc., 21 218 F .Supp. 2d 1165 (N.D.Cal. 2002) .............................................................................. 11 22 ComputerXpress, Inc. v. Jackson, 23 93 Cal. App. 4th 993 (2001) ............................................................................................. 10 24 Damon v. Ocean Hills Journalism Club, 85 CaL App. 4th 468 (2000) ............................................................................................. 10 25 Dowling v. Zi!)1meflllan, 26 85 Cal. App. 4th 1400 (2001) ............................................................................................. 9 27 DuPont Merck Pharm. Co. v. Superior Court Mitchell 28 78 Cal. App. 4th 562 (2000) ............................................................................................. 11 Silberberg & KnuppllP 2166413.9 ii Special Motion to Strike TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) 2 Pagers) 3 Eguilon Enter. v. Consumer Cause, Inc., 4 29 Cal. 4th 53 (2002) ......................................................... _................................................ 9 5 Fellows v. National Enquirer, Inc., 42 Cal. 3d 234 (1986) ........................................................ _....... _...................................... 15 6 7 F erlauto v. Hamsher, 74 Cal. App. 4th 1394 (1999) ............................................ _.............................................. 13 8 Finke v. Walt Disney Co., 9 2 Cal. Rptr. 3d 436 (2003) ................................................................................................ II 10 Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. v. Paladino, 89 Cal. App. 4th 294 (2001) .............................................. _................................................ 9 II Gallimmore v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Ins. Co., 12 102 Cal. App. 4th 1388 (2002) ........................................................................................... 9 13 Gilbert v. Sykes, 14 147 Cal. App. 4th 13 (2007) ............................................................................. 3, 10, 13, 15 15 James v. San Jose Mercury News, Inc., 17 Cal. App. 4th I (1993) ................................................................................................. 13 16 Krinsky v. Doe 6, 17 159 Cal. App. 4th 1154 (2008) ......................................................................................... 13 18 Macias v. Hartwell, 19 55 Cal. App. 4th 669 (1997) ............................................................................................. II 20 McGarry v. Univ. of San Diego, 154 Cal. App. 4th 97,112 (2007) ...................................................................................... 14 21 Morningstar, Inc. v. Superior Court, 22 23 Cal. App. 4th 676 (1994) ....................................................................................... 14, 15 23 Navellier v. Sletten, 24 29 Cal. 4th 82 (2002) .......................................................................................................... 9 25 Nygard, Inc. v. Uusi-Kerttula, 159 Cal. App. 4th 1027 (2008) ............................................................................. II, 13, 14 26 Old Dominion Branch No. 496, Nat'! Assoc. of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO v. 27 Austin, 418 U.S. 264 (1974) ............................................................................................ 12 Mitchell 28 Silberberg & Knupp LLP 2166413.9 111 Special Motion to Strike TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) 2 Pagels) 3 Ringler Assoc. Inc. v. Maryland CaB. Co., 4 80 Cal. App. 4th 1165 (1990) ...................................................................................... 12-13 5 Seelig v. Infinity Broad. Corp., 97 Cal. App. 4th 798 (2002) ....................................................................................... 10, 12 6 7 Tuchscher Dev. Enter.. Inc. v. San Diego Unified Port Dist .. \06 Cal. App. 4th 1219 (2003) ................................................................................ 9-1 0, 12 8 Vogel v. Felice, 9 127 CaL App. 4th 1006 (2005) ......................................................................................... 14 \0 STATUTES 11 California Business and Professions Code §17200 .............................................................................................................................. 15 12 13 California Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16 ...................................................................................................................... passim 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 MilcheU 28 Silberberg &: Knupp LLP 2166<13.9 iv Special Motion to Strike 1 NOTICE OF MOTION AND SPECIAL MOTION TO STRIKE 2 3 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on May 27, 2009, at 9:00 a.m., or as soon thereafter as the 4 matter may be heard, in Department J of the Marin County Superior Court located at 3501 Civic 5 Center Drive, San Rafael, California 94903, defendant Happy Mutants LLC d/b/a Boing Boing 6 ("Boing Boing") will and hereby does move, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16, for an 7 order striking the Complaint filed by plaintiff MagicJack, LP ("MagicJack") herein. 8 9 This motion is and will be made on the grounds that each cause of action alleged in the I 0 Complaint arises, in whole or in part, from conduct of Boing Boing in furtherance of the exercise II of its constitutional right of free speech in connection with a matter of public interest. MagicJack 12 cannot bear its burden of establishing, through competent and admissible evidence, a probability 13 that it will prevail on those causes of action. 14 15 This motion is based upon this Notice