{"id":3335,"date":"2020-07-25T16:39:52","date_gmt":"2020-07-25T16:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/?p=3335"},"modified":"2020-07-25T16:39:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T16:39:54","slug":"makeup-copyright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/2020\/07\/makeup-copyright.html","title":{"rendered":"MakeUp copyright"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sammy_mourabit_v._steven_klein.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Whether a human body part may qualify as a \u201ctangible medium of expression\u201d for Makeup copyright purposes?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Mourabit is a makeup artist, and in 2013, he \u201cdid the make up artistry\u201d for a fashion photo shoot organized by W Magazine. Klein was the photographer at the Photo Shoot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">In 2015, Shiseido collaborated with Klein to create a holiday makeup collection. Defendants used one of Klein\u2019s photographs from the Photo Shoot to promote and advertise their new makeup line. The Photograph depicted Juliette Lewis, an actress, wearing makeup that Mourabit had applied during the Photo Shoot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">According to the complaint, in their promotional materials, Defendants did not credit Mourabit for Lewis\u2019s makeup, instead implying to consumers and the public that Nars, another makeup artist, was responsible for the makeup artistry depicted in the Photograph.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">In June 2018, Mourabit obtained a copyright registration for a drawing of the makeup artistry that Lewis showcased during the Photo Shoot. Two months later, Mourabit filed a complaint in the New York State Supreme Court alleging copyright infringement based on his copyright registration for the Drawing , as well as state law claims of unjust enrichment, unfair competition\/misappropriation, and violation of New York General Business Law (\u201cGBL\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">On September 12, 2018, Shiseido removed the case to the Southern District of New York. On December 13, 2018 Mourabit conceded in a court filing that his copyright claim based on the registered Drawing should be dismissed. The parties continued to disagree, however, as to whether Mourabit\u2019s state law claims were preempted by the Copyright Act.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The district court dismissed Mourabit\u2019s copyright infringement claim after concluding that Mourabit abandoned it by his earlier concession. Next, the district court concluded that the unjust enrichment and unfair competition\/misappropriation claims were preempted by the Copyright Act.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The district court noted that Mourabit \u201cappears to allege that his state law claims arise from his \u2018makeup artistry,\u2019 rather than the copyrighted drawing,\u201d and thus focused its analysis on the application of makeup during the Photo Shoot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Accordingly, the district court held that Mourabit\u2019s state claims fell within the preemptive scope of the Copyright Act because makeup artistry fits within the \u201cpictorial, graphic, and sculptural works\u201d category and could be \u201cfixed in a tangible medium of expression.\u201d Judgment entered July 8, 2019. This appeal followed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Mourabit\u2019s appeal focuses, on the first prong of copyright preemption \u2013 that is, the \u201csubject matter requirement.\u201d Mourabit argued, in particular, that the work of makeup artistry that he developed for the Photo Shoot (the \u201cMakeup Artistry\u201d) does not meet the subject matter requirement because (a) it does not fall within one of the categories of copyrightable works set forth in 17 U.S.C. \u00a7 102, and (b) the Makeup Artistry was not fixed in a tangible medium of expression.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The appeal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/docs\/sammy_mourabit_v._steven_klein.pdf\">concluded<\/a> that, for preemption purposes only, Mourabit\u2019s Makeup Artistry falls comfortably within \u201cthe broad ambit of the subject matter categories listed in section 102(a).\u201d In particular, the Copyright Act protects \u201cpictorial, graphic, and sculptural works,\u201d 17 U.S.C. \u00a7 102(a)(5), a category that encompasses \u201cpictures, paintings, or drawings\u201d depicted in either two-dimensional or three-dimensional space.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Mourabit\u2019s Makeup Artistry fits into this category in \u201ca broad sense\u201d because it is essentially a painting that is displayed on a person\u2019s face. As do other works that the Supreme Court has deemed to have \u201cpictorial, graphic, or sculptural qualities,\u201d the Makeup Artistry involves the decorative \u201carrangement of colors, shapes, and stripes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The appeal concluded that Makeup Artistry shares enough features with the category of pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works to fall within the \u201cbroad ambit\u201d of section 102(a) and, therefore, to be potentially subject to copyright preemption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Mourabit countered that his Makeup Artistry nonetheless does not satisfy the subject matter requirement because the work was not \u201cfixed in a tangible medium of expression.\u201d In advancing this challenge, Mourabit frames the relevant inquiry as whether the Makeup Artistry was fixed in Lewis\u2019s face.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">From there, Mourabit urged that the fixation requirement is not satisfied because (1) human skin cannot qualify as \u201ca tangible medium of expression,\u201d and (2) even if it did, the makeup that he designed and applied to Lewis\u2019s face was not sufficiently permanent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">No federal appeals court has addressed whether a human body part may qualify as a \u201ctangible medium of expression\u201d for copyright purposes. Although the District Court concluded that the Makeup Artistry was sufficiently fixed in Lewis\u2019s skin to satisfy the fixation requirement for copyright purposes, the appeal affirmed its judgment on the alternative ground that the Makeup Artistry was fixed in the Photograph taken by Klein.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Under the Copyright Act, \u201ca work is \u2018fixed\u2019 in a tangible medium of expression when its embodiment in a copy&#8230;, by or under the authority of the author, is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The Act defines \u201ccopies,\u201d in turn, as \u201cmaterial objects, other than phonorecords, in which a work is fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">When applying this fixation requirement, it is necessary to bear in mind the \u201cfundamental distinction between the original work of authorship and the material object in which that work is fixed.\u201d The work is a form of intangible property that can be physically embodied in (i.e., fixed in) any number of different material objects (i.e., tangible mediums of expression).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Here, the Makeup Artistry \u2013 i.e., the work that Mourabit asserted is the subject of his state law claims \u2013 was plainly fixed in Klein\u2019s Photograph. When Klein photographed Lewis during the Photo Shoot, he physically embodied Mourabit\u2019s Makeup Artistry in the Photograph, thereby allowing the work to be \u201cperceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Although Klein, not Mourabit, took the Photograph, that fact is of no import here because a work of authorship may be fixed \u201cby or under the authority of the author.\u201d Mourabit plainly consented to the photographing of his work by Klein: after all, creating such a Photograph was the goal of the Photo Shoot. Thus, the fixation of his Makeup Artistry in the Photograph occurred under Mourabit\u2019s authority.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether a human body part may qualify as a \u201ctangible medium of expression\u201d for Makeup copyright purposes?<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/2020\/07\/makeup-copyright.html\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">MakeUp copyright<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,18,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyright","category-intellectual-property","category-law","category-litigation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3335"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3339,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions\/3339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}