Cade Wallman v. Dominic Wieneke d/b/a Warwolf Productions and Ezekiel Moot Richter

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of South Dakota granted defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss claims arising from the alleged unauthorized use of video footage and the plaintiff’s likeness. The court dismissed the copyright infringement claim without prejudice because the copyright had not been registered or preregistered, dismissed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim with prejudice because no copyright management information was alleged to have been removed or altered, and declined supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law likeness claim. The court also denied as moot defendants’ request to consider supplemental authority.

Holdings

1. A copyright infringement action generally cannot proceed under 17 U.S.C. § 411(a) unless the copyright claim has been registered or preregistered, and Wallman's failure to allege either was sufficient to dismiss his copyright infringement claim under Rule 12(b)(6).
2. A claim under 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b) requires copyright management information that was present and was knowingly removed or altered; because Wallman's allegations did not plausibly establish that such information was ever attached to the footage, his DMCA claim failed.
3. The court properly declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law unauthorized-use-of-likeness claim after dismissing all federal claims.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Wallman's copyright infringement claim stated a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) despite failing to allege copyright registration or preregistration.
2. Whether Wallman's DMCA claim stated a claim where the complaint did not allege that copyright management information had been present on the footage before being removed or altered.
3. Whether the court should decline supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law unauthorized-use-of-likeness claim after dismissing the federal claims.
4. Whether the court should consider defendants' supplemental authority.

Disposition

dismissed