Phoenix Entertainment Partners, LLC v. Rumsey

Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing for failure to state claim plaintiff’s trademark infringement action alleging that defendants’ playing in its restaurant/bar unauthorized digital copies of plaintiff’s karaoke files violated Lanham Act. Complaint contained no allegation that defendants’ restaurant/bar promoted itself as offering plaintiff’s karaoke products or that defendant’s patrons would think that plaintiff was sponsoring performance of copied karaoke tracks. Moreover, while unauthorized tracks contained plaintiff’s distinctive trade dress that distinguished its tracks from those of plaintiff’s competitors, plaintiff failed to show that defendants’ customers using said tracks would be confused (or would care) about source of physical medium from which karaoke tracks were played, especially where customers would see plaintiff’s trademark and trade dress and rightly conclude that plaintiff was source of intangible content in tracks. Also, while any unauthorized display and performance of karaoke track might be viewed as copyright infringement, plaintiff did not own copyright to songs contained in tracks, and plaintiff’s embedded trademark during performance of tracks did not, without more, support trademark infringement or unfair competition under Lanham Act.