## Facts

- Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. owned copyrights in promotional materials for the film *Men in Black* (MIB), including a poster and trailer used in a widely disseminated advertising campaign.
- The MIB poster depicted two actors in black suits, white shirts, black ties, and sunglasses, holding oversized weapons, posed before the New York City skyline.
- The MIB trailer used the tagline “protecting the earth from the scum of the universe” and ended with the characters’ shadows over the letters “MIB.”
- Miramax Films Corp. released *The Big One* (TBO) and created a poster and trailer modeled on the MIB campaign.
- The TBO poster depicted filmmaker Michael Moore in a similar outfit and pose before the New York City skyline, holding an oversized microphone instead of a weapon.
- The TBO trailer used the tagline “protecting the earth from the scum of corporate America” and ended with Moore’s shadow over the letters “TBO.”
- After plaintiffs complained, defendants withdrew some challenged advertising but continued using the posters in theaters.
- Plaintiffs sued for copyright infringement and moved for a preliminary injunction; defendants asserted fair use, claiming parody.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs showed a likelihood of success on the merits that defendants copied protectable expression and that the challenged poster and trailer were substantially similar under the extrinsic and intrinsic tests.
2. Whether defendants were likely to succeed on a fair use defense, including whether the campaign qualified as parody under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
3. Whether plaintiffs established irreparable harm warranting injunctive relief and whether defendants’ partial voluntary withdrawal rendered injunctive relief unnecessary or moot.

## Decision

- The court granted a preliminary injunction against defendants’ use of the challenged TBO poster and trailer and substantially similar promotional materials pending final resolution.
- Plaintiffs demonstrated likely ownership, access, and substantial similarity in protectable expressive elements of the poster and trailer.
- Defendants failed to carry their burden of showing likely fair use; the asserted parody was insufficient and the use functioned primarily as commercial advertising.
- The court presumed irreparable harm upon a showing of likely infringement.
- Defendants’ voluntary cessation did not moot the dispute because continued use and the possibility of resumption justified injunctive relief.
- The balance of hardships and public interest favored plaintiffs and enforcement of copyright protection.

## Legal Principles

- A preliminary injunction in a copyright case may issue where the plaintiff shows a likelihood of success on infringement and irreparable harm, along with favorable equitable factors.
- Substantial similarity may be evaluated through an objective comparison of protectable elements (extrinsic test) and the ordinary observer’s impression of the work’s “total concept and feel” (intrinsic test).
- Copyright protection extends to creative promotional materials (such as posters and trailers) and to the selection, arrangement, and combination of visual and textual elements, not merely to abstract ideas.
- Fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107 is assessed by the four statutory factors; commercial advertising that appropriates the core expressive features of another’s work is less likely to be fair use.
- Parody may be transformative when it targets the original work, but the user must take no more than reasonably necessary to “conjure up” the original and must not substitute for, or impair, markets for licensed or derivative uses.
- A defendant’s voluntary withdrawal of challenged conduct generally does not eliminate the need for injunctive relief absent reliable assurances the conduct will not recur.

## Conclusion

The court enjoined Miramax’s MIB-styled advertising for *The Big One* because plaintiffs showed likely copyright infringement and defendants’ parody-based fair use defense was unlikely to succeed, with irreparable harm presumed and voluntary withdrawal insufficient to defeat injunctive relief.


Columbia Pictures Indus., Inc. v. Miramax Films Corp., 11 F. Supp. 2d 1179 (C.D. Cal. 1998)