Grosso v. Miramax
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Argued: April 7, 2003 Decided: September 8, 2004
Full case name: Jeff Grosso v. Miramax Film Corp. Citations: 383 F.3d 965
Holding
A screenwriter's claim for breach of implied contract is not preempted Federal preemption Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.-Constitutional basis:According to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,...   by Federal Copyright Law.
Court membership
Chief Judge: Mary M. Schroeder Associate Judges: Thompson, Graber
Case opinions
Majority by:: Mary M. Schroeder Joined by: Thompson, Graber
Laws applied
Desney v. Wilder, 46 Cal.2d 715 (1956).

Grosso v. Miramax, 383 F.3d 965

Case citation

Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...

 (9th Cir. 2004), was an entertainment law

Entertainment law

Entertainment law or media law is a term for a mix of more traditional categories of law with a focus on providing legal services to the entertainment industry. The principal areas of Entertainment Law overlap substantially with the well-known and conventional field of intellectual property law...

 case in which the United States Court of Appeals

United States court of appeals

The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...

 for the Ninth Circuit held that a screenwriter's claim for breach of implied contract was not preempted

Federal preemption

Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.-Constitutional basis:According to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,...

  by United States federal copyright law, because the screenwriter's claim alleged an extra element that transformed the action from one arising under the ambit of the federal copyright statute to one sounding in contract.

Facts

Jeff Grosso, the author of a screenplay entitled "The Shell Game," claimed that Miramax stole the ideas and themes of his work when it made the movie "Rounders

Rounders (film)

Rounders is a 1998 film about the underground world of high-stakes poker. Directed by John Dahl and starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, the movie follows two friends who need to quickly earn enough cash playing poker to pay off a large debt...

."

Issue

Did the District Court properly dismiss Grosso's state law causes of action for breach of contract as preempted

Federal preemption

Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.-Constitutional basis:According to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,...

 by the federal Copyright Act?

Result

The Ninth Circuit found that the District Court erred in concluding that a screenwriter's claim for breach of implied contract was preempted

Federal preemption

Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.-Constitutional basis:According to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,...

by Federal Copyright Law. In so holding, the Court reasoned that Grosso's claim alleged an extra element that transformed the action from one arising under the ambit of the federal copyright statute to one sounding in contract.
After remand to the California state courts, Grosso's implied contract claim was found to be without merit. Summary judgment was entered against Grosso. On appeal, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, affirmed the summary judgment, and awarded the defendants their costs of suit.