## Facts

- Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 2319A, which criminalizes unauthorized recording, transmission, and trafficking in recordings of live musical performances.
- Ali Moghadam pleaded guilty to knowingly distributing, selling, and trafficking in unauthorized compact discs of live performances by recording artists including Tori Amos and the Beastie Boys.
- Moghadam moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing § 2319A exceeded Congress’s enumerated powers because live performances are not necessarily “fixed” and may not fit within the Copyright Clause.
- The district court denied the motion; Moghadam entered a guilty plea while preserving his right to appeal the statute’s constitutionality.

## Issues

1. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 2319A is a valid exercise of Congress’s power under the Copyright Clause.
2. Whether Congress may enact § 2319A under the Commerce Clause even if the statute does not fit limits associated with the Copyright Clause (including fixation and “limited Times”).

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the conviction and upheld § 2319A as constitutional under the Commerce Clause.
- The court assumed, without deciding, that § 2319A might be difficult to justify under the Copyright Clause because live performances may be unfixed.
- The court held Congress had a rational basis to treat trafficking in bootleg recordings of live performances as economic conduct that substantially affects interstate and foreign commerce.
- The court rejected the argument that perceived limits of the Copyright Clause necessarily barred Congress from regulating the same conduct through the Commerce Clause in these circumstances.

## Legal Principles

- Congress may regulate a class of economic activity under the Commerce Clause when it has a rational basis to conclude the activity, in the aggregate, substantially affects interstate or foreign commerce.
- A statute directed at commercial trafficking in goods affecting interstate markets can be sustained under the Commerce Clause even if it overlaps with subject matter commonly associated with copyright.
- The Copyright Clause’s contours (including fixation and “limited Times”) do not automatically operate as external prohibitions on otherwise valid Commerce Clause legislation, at least where the law functions as a commercial regulation and does not directly conflict with those limits.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit sustained the federal anti-bootlegging statute as a Commerce Clause measure aimed at suppressing commercial trafficking in unauthorized recordings of live musical performances, and affirmed Moghadam’s conviction notwithstanding unresolved questions about the statute’s fit under the Copyright Clause.


United States v. Moghadam, 175 F.3d 1269 (11th Cir. 1999)