Jorgensen v. Epic/Sony Records

351 F.3d 46 (2d Cir. 2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P wrote and copyrighted a song entitled 'Long Lost Lover” (Lover). P promoted his work by sending unsolicited mailings to executives as entertainment companies. P claims that this song has been infringed upon by the songs 'My Heart Will Go On' ('Heart') and 'Amazed.' Written by James Horner and Will Jennings, and sung by Celine Dion, 'Heart' was the Academy Award-winning theme song for the 1997 blockbuster movie Titanic. Defendants Famous Music Corporation, Fox Film Music Corp. and Blue Sky Rider Songs are the three co-publishers of 'Heart,' and Defendant Sony Music Entertainment Inc. ('Sony') manufactured and distributed the Titanic soundtrack. These defendants are collectively referred to as 'the 'Heart' defendants. 'Amazed,' was written by Chris Lindsey, Aimee Mayo and Marv Green, was recorded by the country music group Lonestar and released on their multi-platinum album 'Lonely Grill.' Defendants Careers BMG Music Publishing ('BMG'), Songs of Nashville Dreamworks, and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (collectively 'the 'Amazed' defendants') are music publishing companies that administer the publishing rights to 'Amazed.' P sued Ds for copyright violations. P claims that Ds had access through his unsolicited mailings. Two executives at BMG and Sony admitted they actually got the mailings. One never listened to the tape, and the other claimed he never shared it with the writers of Amazed. Ds moved for summary judgment. The court held that P could not establish that the authors of either 'Amazed' or 'Heart' had a reasonable opportunity to hear his unpublished work. It held that 'bare corporate receipt' of a work by those defendants who may have received Jorgensen's mass mailings did 'not create a prima facie case of access sufficient to defeat summary judgment.' Further evidence did reveal that those who had received the tape at Sony had passed it around, but the Court found it to alleviate P’s failure to adduce even a scintilla of evidence that Leeds at Sony provided the song to anyone else. P appealed.