Video Pipeline, Inc. v. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
342 F.3d 191 (2003)
Video Pipeline (defendant) licensed over 500 Disney (plaintiff) movie trailers for videotape distribution and later began posting them online; after Disney determined the license didn't cover online use and demanded removal, Video Pipeline complied but sued for a declaratory judgment that it could post the trailers online, prompting Disney to terminate the license entirely. Video Pipeline then posted roughly 60 two-minute clips from Disney movies as trailer replacements, and Disney countersued for copyright infringement over those clips; Disney's standard license for other websites posting its trailers prohibited licensees from criticizing Disney, its films, or the people who made them. The district court granted Disney a preliminary injunction against Video Pipeline's use of the clips, and Video Pipeline appealed, invoking copyright misuse as a defense.
Whether courts may refuse to enforce a copyright if the copyright holder misuses its copyright in a way that subverts public policy underlying the Copyright Clause.