## Facts

- Larry L. Sellers contacted investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera with what Sellers claimed was an “exclusive story” about Elvis Presley’s death.
- Before disclosing details, Sellers required Rivera to sign a written agreement providing that Sellers would retain “all copyright privileges” to the story and receive public credit from ABC for uncovering the “true cause” of death; Sellers agreed not to release the story to other reporters or networks.
- After the agreement was signed, Sellers disclosed a theory that Presley died because his physician and bodyguard substituted placebos for prescribed cortisone, allegedly to prevent Presley from seeking repayment of a $1.3 million loan; Sellers also suggested possible suffocation.
- Rivera told Sellers ABC could not use the story without verification and suggested Sellers investigate further and recontact Rivera if proof was obtained.
- Sellers later claimed he had uncovered proof but did not provide details; this was his last contact with Rivera or ABC about the story.
- Rivera conducted an independent investigation and ultimately reported a different explanation for Presley’s death, attributing it to a bad interaction of drugs (polypharmacy), not Sellers’s murder-by-cortisone-deprivation theory.
- Sellers sued ABC, ABC News, and Rivera for breach of contract, copyright infringement, and misappropriation based on alleged use of his submitted story.
- The district court granted summary judgment to defendants on all counts.

## Issues

1. Whether defendants breached the parties’ agreement by using Sellers’s alleged “exclusive story” without providing contractual credit or honoring Sellers’s asserted copyright.
2. Whether defendants infringed any copyrightable material owned by Sellers by copying protected expression from his submission.
3. Whether defendants were liable for misappropriation (idea-submission-type claim) for allegedly taking and using Sellers’s disclosed theory.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendants on all counts.
- The court held there was no breach of contract because defendants did not use Sellers’s theory in the broadcast and the agreement did not guarantee publication.
- The court held there was no copyright infringement because Sellers did not show copying of protectable expression or substantial similarity.
- The court held there was no misappropriation because defendants did not appropriate and use Sellers’s submitted idea.

## Legal Principles

- Copyright protects original expression, not ideas or theories; an idea about a newsworthy event is not protected absent protectable expression that is copied.
- Copyright infringement requires ownership of a valid copyright and copying of protected elements, commonly proved through access plus substantial similarity of protectable expression.
- An idea-submission/misappropriation claim requires actual appropriation and use of the submitted idea; without use, liability does not attach.
- An express agreement promising credit or other consideration tied to use of a submission does not impose liability when the recipient investigates independently and does not use the submission.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed summary judgment because defendants did not adopt or use Sellers’s cortisone-deprivation murder theory in their reporting, defeating breach, infringement, and misappropriation claims that depended on actual use of protected or compensable material.


Sellers v. Am. Broad. Co., 668 F.2d 1207 (11th Cir. 1982)