Joseph Roderick Jr. v. William Martin Joel, aka “Billy Joel”; Sony Music Entertainment/Columbia Records; Liberty Devitto; Dennis Alexander

Summary

The Southern District of New York dismissed without prejudice Joseph Roderick Jr.'s federal copyright infringement claims for failure to adequately allege registration of the allegedly infringed work. The court declined further leave to amend those claims and transferred the plaintiff's state-law claims to the District of Arizona under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), because the relevant events occurred in Arizona and that court had previously addressed similar claims. The order was issued in the plaintiff's action against William Martin Joel, Sony Music Entertainment/Columbia Records, Liberty Devitto, and Dennis Alexander.

Holdings

1. A plaintiff must satisfy the copyright-registration or preregistration requirement before filing a federal copyright-infringement action, and plaintiff’s allegation that he registered an unspecified work under file number 1-14410612761 did not adequately demonstrate registration of the work allegedly infringed.
2. Plaintiff’s federal copyright-infringement claims were dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim.
3. Venue was improper in the Southern District of New York because not all defendants resided in New York and plaintiff alleged no substantial events or omissions giving rise to the state-law claims in that district.
4. The court transferred plaintiff’s state-law claims against all defendants to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Questions Presented

1. Whether plaintiff adequately stated copyright-infringement claims by alleging registration of the work allegedly infringed.
2. Whether venue was proper in the Southern District of New York for plaintiff’s state-law claims.
3. Whether the state-law claims should be dismissed or transferred to the District of Arizona under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a).

Disposition

dismissed