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Phoenix Entm't Partners LLC v. J-V Successors Inc.

Dismissal of Lanham Act Claims Based on Goods Mark Explained in Suit Over Karaoke Tracks

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OPINION AND ORDER

*1  Sore throats. Ringing ears. Embarrassed friends. The longest version of Bohemian Rhapsody, ever. These perils of karaoke are widely known. Keats Bar on Second Avenue is facing a lesser known peril of the industry: a trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit in federal court. Plaintiff alleges that the use of copied versions of its karaoke accompaniment tracks violates its trademarks and service marks, and is pursuing these claims as trademark rather than copyright claims because it does not own the relevant copyrights. Defendant has moved to dismiss Plaintiff’s complaint in its entirety. Because the use of a goods trademark to protect against copying the tracks raises the spectre of the “species of mutant copyright law” about which the Supreme Court cautioned in Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Plaintiff’s Lanham Act claims based on its goods marks are dismissed. The same rationale does not apply to the service mark claims, but Plaintiff has failed to plausibly allege that the copied tracks at issue here are of diminished quality, so its claims based on service marks are also dismissed. I. BACKGROUNDKaraoke as it is known today is made possible by “karaoke accompaniment tracks,” which are re-recorded versions of popular songs without the corresponding vocals and with a

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