DRK Photo v. McGraw-Hill Global Education Holdings, LLC

870 F.3d 978 (2017)

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DRK Photo v. McGraw-Hill Global Education Holdings, LLC

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
870 F.3d 978 (2017)

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Facts

DRK Photo (plaintiff) was a stock-photo agency that negotiated nonexclusive licensing agreements with photographers, allowing DRK to license and sell the photographers’ photos. DRK reached out to many of its photographers to negotiate new assignment agreements, explaining that the purpose of the agreement was to enable DRK to sue to enforce the copyright of the photographers’ photos. Many photographers executed these agreements, in which the copyright holders agreed to assign legal title to the copyright to DRK for purposes of registering the images and bringing copyright-infringement claims. Even after signing those agreements, DRK retained only a nonexclusive license to market and sell the photographers’ photos, with the photographers retaining full rights to market and sell their photos on their own and through other agents. DRK sued McGraw-Hill Global Education Holders, LLC (McGraw) (defendant) for copyright infringement, asserting that McGraw exceeded the scope of its licenses with DRK by printing more books containing licensed images than DRK had authorized. McGraw moved for summary judgment, arguing that DRK had no standing to sue for copyright infringement because DRK was merely a nonexclusive license holder and not the legal owner of the copyrights.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Hawkins, J.)

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