USTA Lawsuit Against Williams Sisters Documentary Has Life

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 13th November 2013

Williams sisters vs Schiavone and Pennetta

USTA Lawsuit Against Williams Sisters Documentary Has Life

epa03022302 US Williams sisters, Serena and Venus (L), during a press conference in Milan, Italy, 02 December 2011. The tennis match Williams sisters Vs Schiavone - Pennetta is scheduled for 03 December 2011. EPA/MATTEO BAZZI |

The USTA’s lawsuit against Baird, Major and VSW Productions for their Williams Sisters documentary had mixed results in front of U.S. District Judge Nelson Roman last week.

The judge dismissed the USTA’s unjust enrichment claim but did allow a claim for promissory estoppel to survive.

Baird, Major and VSW Productions approached the USTA in July of 2011 and said that they wanted to include in the film archival footage as well as behind-the-scenes footage at the 2011 US Open.

“We are entirely willing to agree to film only where and what your organization will allow,” Baird, Major and VSW Productions said in an email at the time

The USTA responded it was would work with the filmmakers but that the footage would be subject to a “standard footage licensing agreement and then applicable ‘rate card.'”

The USTA did allow the company to film behind-the-scenes footage and after the tournament ended they continued to negotiate the terms of a license but no agreement was reached.

The filmmakers decided to use the footage anyway and then the USTA filed a lawsuit.

“It cannot be disputed that the USTA, as the organizer of the US Open, enjoys the right to license to others — for a fee — the ability to record and broadcast US Open footage,” the organization said in legal papers. “The USTA has the right to determine who may be permitted access to the [National Tennis Center] for the purposes of filming there. Thus, the USTA has every right to charge Defendants a fee in connection with both their access to the NTC and their subsequent use of the NTC Footage, regardless of Defendants’ copyrights.”

In a ruling last week, Judge Roman stated that the USTA’s claim that the filmmakers were unjustly enriched from their unauthorized use of footage is preempted by federal copyright law. “Indeed, the rights Plaintiff seems intent on protecting in the unjust enrichment count involve the reproduction and adaptation of its copyrighted broadcasts.”

However the judge wouldn’t toss a claim of promissory estoppel.

“Plaintiff has alleged plausibly that Defendants made a clear and unambiguous promise: (1) that, at the beginning of the parties’ discussions, Defendants stated they were ‘willing to film only where and what your organization will allow’ and that (2) at some point during their negotiations before the 2011 US Open began, Defendants thought they would need to seek a license for footage of ‘Venus and Serena playing their matches with on court sound (which we understand we will have to license).’”

Topics: 10sballs.com, 2011 US Open, Serena Williams, Tennis, Tennis News, Usta, Venus Williams