Facts

Plaintiff Almut Reinicke filed a suit against her former employer defendant Creative Empire LLC, an online language learning services provider.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Reinicke was hired to develop the German language component for defendant's Mango 2.0 product, and accepted hourly and per-chapter compensation for her work. Shortly after the release of Mango 2.0, plaintiff claimed that defendant did not have permission to use her work as part of Mango 2.0 unless it paid her royalties, and brought claims for conversion, quantum meruit, and copyright infringement.

Plaintiff claimed that she was repeatedly induced to create and deliver her work with promises of a commission, and that such promises vitiate any subjective intent to convey an implied license to use her work.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant asserted that plaintiff's objective conduct at the time she created and delivered her work manifested an intent to convey a nonexclusive implied license to use her work, and that the only intent relevant to an implied license finding is objective intent as manifested by conduct, not the licensor's subjective state of mind.

Defendant presented plaintiff's e-mails, where she vocally complained about the lack of a commission being promised.

Result

The court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment of plaintiff's copyright claim and quantum meruit claim. The court noted that plaintiff's claims that she was repeatedly induced by promises of a commission contradicted the evidence on record.

Other Information

FILING DATE: June 11, 2012.