DeliverMed Holdings, LLC v. Schaltenbrand

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Copyright
Citation
Case Number: 
Nos. 12-3773 & 12-3774 Cons.
Decision Date: 
October 7, 2013
Federal District: 
S.D. Ill.
Holding: 
Affirmed and reversed in part and remanded
In action alleging copyright infringement arising out of defendants’ use of partnership logo, Dist. Ct. erred in entering declaration that invalidated plaintiffs’ certificate of Copyright Registration with respect to said logo, even though record contained evidence that plaintiffs made false representations as to authorship and ownership of copyright interest in copyright application. While Dist. Ct. could properly find that plaintiffs knowingly included inaccurate information on application, it could not enter instant declaration without seeking prior opinion from Register of Copyrights as to whether such inaccurate information would have caused Register to refuse plaintiff’s application. Ct. also upheld Dist. Ct.’s finding that individual plaintiff failed to establish breach of contract action against defendants-former partners for defendants’ failure to pay plaintiff’s share of partnership profits, where plaintiff proffered only informal and inaccurate financial statements, as well as calculations not based on net partnership profits to support his claim.