Page:Penguin Books v. New Christian Church.pdf/4

 occurred over a quarter of a century ago. The preponderance of the credible evidence has established that the plaintiffs’ predecessors in interest distributed the Course before its publication.

The Parties

FIP is a New York corporation with its principal place of business in California. It first published the Course with a copyright notice on October 6, 1975, transferred the copyright to Penguin Books U.S.A., Inc. (“Penguin”) in 1995 for a five-year period, and transferred its rights to FACIM in February 1998.

FACIM is a New York corporation with its principal place of business in Roscoe, New York.

The Church is a Wisconsin corporation with its principal place of business in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

Endeavor is a teaching facility with its principal place of business in Reedsburg, Wisconsin.

Prior Proceedings

Penguin filed the original complaint in this action on June 3, 1996 to enforce their copyright in the Work. Defendants initially proceeded pro se, but were ordered on January 24, 1997 to retain counsel. FIP and FACIM joined as plaintiffs, and discovery proceeded.

In their third amended complaint, plaintiffs also assert, as their second through sixth claims for relief, violations of the Lanham Act of 1946, 15 U.S.C. § 1051, et seq. This Court possesses subject matter jurisdiction over those claims under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1338(a), and 1338(b). These claims have been stayed pending the outcome of the primary copyright claims.

On February 3, 2000, Penguin and the plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction, and the Church and Endeavor cross-moved for summary judgment. In an opinion of July 25, 2000, ''Penguin Books USA, Inc. v. New Christian Church of Full. Endeavor, Ltd.'', No. 96 Civ. 4126, 2000 WL 1028634 (S.D.N.Y., July 25, 2000) (the “July 25 Opinion”), a partial preliminary injunction was granted, and the cross-motion for summary judgment was denied. The July 25 Opinion held that plaintiffs have established a prima facie case of copyright infringement in connection with the Work, that defendants’ “public domain” affirmative defense survived summary judgment, and that Affirmative Defenses 1–6, 8–13 were dismissed. These defenses related to invalidity of the copyright due to divine authorship; fraud on the Copyright Office; unclean hands and copyright misuse; failure to allege chain of title; estoppel; infringement on freedom of religion; laches; no standing; abandonment; fair use; permissible quotation of fact only; uncopyrightability of facts; and that the Course was not copyrightable. The issue of prepublication distribution was reserved for trial.

On May 7, 2003, the Court determined motions in limine with respect to certain evidentiary issues. Penguin Books U.S.A., Inc. v. New Christian Church of Full Endeavor, 262 F.Supp.2d 251 (S.D.N.Y.2003).

In accordance with these rulings, the trial took place from May 19, 2003 to May 21, 2003. Final argument and submission were heard on June 25, 2003, at which time the case was considered fully submitted.

The Issue

Based upon the July 25 Opinion, the factual issue remaining in the case was