Rundquist v. Vapiano SE

Ewa-Marie Rundquist (plaintiff) was a Swedish photographer who had taken pictures of Italian street scenes and food imagery. Rundquist asserted that her photographs were being used without her permission in Vapiano, a chain of Italian restaurants located in the United States and other countries. Rundquist brought a copyright-infringement action in federal district court in Washington, D.C., against German company Vapiano SE (defendant) and United States companies Vapiano International, LLC, and Vapiano Franchise USA, LLC (Vapiano USA) (defendants). Rundquist asserted claims of direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement in violation of the Copyright Act of 1976 and copyright infringement in violation of 15 other countries’ laws. Rundquist asserted that Vapiano International and Vapiano USA had committed infringing acts in the United States. Rundquist also asserted that Vapiano SE had tried to entice potential franchisees with pictures of American Vapiano restaurants in which Rundquist’s photographs were visible and by making copies of Rundquist’s photographs in Vapiano SE’s place of business and distributing the copies to Vapiano restaurants in the United States and internationally. Vapiano SE moved to dismiss, asserting that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over Vapiano SE. Vapiano SE alternatively moved to dismiss the claims relating to infringement in non-United States restaurants for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The court denied Vapiano SE’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and allowed Rundquist to conduct jurisdictional discovery to determine whether Vapiano SE had sufficient ties to the district to support the court’s exercise of jurisdiction. The court then analyzed Vapiano SE’s claims that the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over all claims involving copyright infringement in non-United States restaurants.