Intellectual Property — copyright infringement — fair use

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Intellectual Property — copyright infringement — fair use

A copyright infringement case can be dismissed without discovery based on the fair use affirmative defense.

“Despite Brownmark’s assertions to the contrary, the only two pieces of evidence needed to decide the question of fair use in this case are the original version of WWITB and the episode at issue. Brownmark’s copyright infringement claim in its amended complaint was limited to the distribution of one episode on television, South Park’s website, iTunes and Amazon.com, and DVD and Blu-Ray discs of ‘South Park Season 12 (Uncensored).’ Because the claim was limited to the production and distribution of a single episode, the district court was correct to rely solely on the two expressive works referenced in Brownmark’s amended complaint and attached to SPDS’s motion, as well as the allegations in the complaint, to decide on the fair use defense.”

Affirmed.

11-2620 Brownmark Films, LLC, v. Comedy Partners

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Stadtmueller, J., Cudahy, J.