The Ninth Circuit reversed course on May 18, holding that an actress could not issue a copyright takedown notice on an entire film simply by nature of her appearance in that film. The ruling reversed a previous injunction—decried by many commentators—to keep the film, titled “Innocence of the Muslims,” off of sites such as Google and YouTube and reversed an order to have every copy of the film destroyed. An actress named Cindy Garcia had appeared in “Innocence of the Muslims,” which attracted worldwide criticism because of its depiction of the Muslim faith. Afterward, Garcia tried to get the movie removed by alleging that the movie violated her personal copyright. A Ninth Circuit judge agreed that she had a copyrightable interest in the film and that the film needed to be taken down everywhere it appeared. It was the first circuit court ruling in which a performer was able to assert a copyright interest simply from performing in a film, and given that the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction extends over California, it had wide-reaching implications for the film industry.

However, on appeal before a full panel of the circuit court’s judges, the court reversed and held against Garcia. Noting her probable motivations for the lawsuit, the court said that “a weak copyright claim cannot justify censorship in the guise of authorship.” It also said that allowing thousands of actors to claim copyright ownership over films for individual performances would “tie the distribution chain in knots.”

Though the European Union has recognized a “right to be forgotten,” the United States recognizes no such right. Beyond the copyright law implications of this case, the lesson is—and this is almost always the lesson—that once you put something on the Internet, it is virtually impossible to eradicate completely.

Sources: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150518/10204231039/appeals-court-gets-it-right-second-time-actress-had-no-copyright-interest-innocence-muslims.shtml?utm_content=bufferf9c26&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140226/12103626359/horrific-appeals-court-ruling-says-actress-has-copyright-interest-innocence-muslims-orders-youtube-to-delete-every-copy.shtml http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/18/ninth-circuit-en-banc-decision-reverses-injunction-in-innocence-of-muslims-copyright-case/

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