Brooks v. Dash came to our attention from the Southern District of New York, but it began years before. The defendant, Dame Dash, ran a seminar for would-be media producers. The plaintiff, Edwyna Brooks, paid the $50 entry fee for the chance to pitch her idea to Dash: making a movie out of her four-book series entitled Mafietta. On the spot, they agreed to work together with Dash as the director, for a fee that equaled half of the earnings of the film.
That oral agreement would be the subject of a lot of negotiation when Brooks tried to put it into writing, and ultimately it was never signed by Dash. The relationship between Dash and Brooks deteriorated, with various unsuccessful attempts to smooth things out, until Brooks fired Dash.
It’s not hard to imagine Brooks’ shock when she saw a 17-minute version of the movie listed on iTunes by Dash. She didn’t give him permission to do anything with the movie. When Brooks sued Dash for copyright infringement under the Lanham Act, he responded by saying that he was in fact the owner of the copyright for the Mafietta movie, and therefore could not be sued for infringing the copyright. The defendant didn’t even try to enforce the agreement to be paid 50% of the earnings.
The ruling from the Southern District of New York (SDNY) sheds further light on the temperament of Dash, noting that he was “incapable of basic civility.” It took an equally dim view of his legal arguments, which got reviewed by the Second Circuit in July.
The SDNY ruled in Brooks’ favor for copyright infringement, and the Second Circuit affirmed after probing into the issue of shared authorship and ownership as claimed by the defendant. As it turns out, writing four books is sufficient to convince a court that you own the franchise. In fact, writing a series of books is also what made this a trademark action. Titles generally aren’t protected as trademarks unless, but like the Harry Potter series, MAFIETTA served as a trademark for a series of books— which Brooks wisely had registered. What’s more, when Dash claimed ownership of the film and posted it for sale, he was essentially admitting to posting an unauthorized use of Brooks’ trademark.
The court affirmed the Injunctive relief the district court had awarded: Dash was ordered to stop promoting the film. The SDNY also awarded, and the Second Circuit upheld, damages of $300,000. Unfortunately for Brooks, Dash had already pleaded financial hardship for a different judgment that was under $2,000. Brooks’ damages did not include attorney’s fees because the copyright for the movie had not been registered before the infringement occurred.
Dash could have been gracious, or even served his own interests, by admitting that he was caught trying to infringe Brooks’ copyright and trademark. Instead, he appealed, and in what seems like an obvious result, the Second Circuit affirmed.
It might have been prudent — and better serve the client — to carefully and frankly assess the likelihood of success before pursuing the appeal. Going that extra mile by filing an appeal in this case, was not a great use of defendant’s funds or time, in my view.
