Page:Hosseinzadeh v. Klein.pdf/6



Tim Bukher, Michael Feldberg, Thompson Bukher LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

Allison Rothman, Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty, LLP, Caroline Ann Morgan, Fox Rothschild, Attorneys at Law, Walter-Michael Lee, Morrison & Lee LLP, New York, NY, Jeffrey Stephen Kravitz, Rom Bar-Nissim, Fox Rothschild LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Defendants.

KATHERINE B. FORREST, District Judge:

This action principally concerns whether critical commentary on a creative video posted on YouTube constitutes copyright infringement. Matt Hosseinzadeh (“plaintiff”) filed this action in response to a video (the “Klein video”), created by Ethan and Hila Klein (“defendants”) and in which they comment on and criticize plaintiff’s copyrighted video (the “Hoss video”). (ECF No. 1.) The Kleins’ criticism and commentary is interwoven with clips from the Hoss video. The operative complaint alleges that defendants infringed plaintiff’s copyrights, made misrepresentations in a counter-takedown notice in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), and defamed plaintiff. (ECF No. 26.)

Before the Court are dueling motions for summary judgment. (ECF Nos. 82, 86.) The key evidence in the record consists of the Klein and Hoss videos themselves. Any review of the Klein video leaves no doubt that it constitutes critical commentary of the Hoss video; there is also no doubt that