COPYRIGHT LAW

FACTS OF THE CASE: VALIDITY, INFRINGEMENT AND DEFENSES OF COPYRIGHT

In the early 1990s, a comic book artist named Enki published a comic that included a storyline about a fictional "Chessboxing World Championship" in which two competitors would face each other in a 3-round boxing match that would be immediately followed by a timed chess match. Either a knockout or a checkmate would win the championship. The scene in the comic lasts several pages, but it never reappears. Izzy Rubin saw Enki's comic and loved the idea. Izzy wanted to turn chess boxing into a real sport. He realized, however, that Enki's rules would never work. Over the course of the late 1990s, Izzy developed the rules for what would become the official sport of chess boxing. In 2002, Izzy founded the World Chess Boxing Organization (WCBO) and published the rulebook. The WCBO's website has a tab labeled "Rules." Under that tab, it articulates the seven essential rules of chess boxing. They are: Rule 1: A fight consists of a maximum of 11 rounds. Rule 2: 6 rounds of chess alternate with 5 rounds of boxing. Rule 3: The 1st round is a chess round, the 2nd round is a boxing round, the 3rd round is a chess round, etc... Rule 4: There is a 1-minute break between rounds. Rule 5: Each player has 9 minutes on the chess timer. Rule 6: You win by checkmate or knockout, whichever comes first. Rule 7: You also win if your opponent gets disqualified, or exceeds the chess time limit. In addition to these seven rules, the WCBO publishes a more detailed 23-page document expanding on the rules. They registered the copyright on the rulebook with the Copyright Office in 2003. The WCBO has held matches and crowned champions since its founding, but it has never developed an especially popular following. The championship matches were filmed and aired on delayed broadcasts on sports television channels in the early morning hours. The WCBO's biggest "superstar" is Trevor "The White Bishop" Williams. Here is a photo of the outfit that he wore when he entered the ring for the 2016 WCBO championship:

Trevor first got the nickname "The Bishop" while playing chess in college, where he was known, not so much for his chess game but for his deep religiosity. When he joined the WCBO in 2012, Izzy suggested that he develop the persona further. Izzy also thought Trevor should use the name "The White Bishop," both because it is a name of a chess piece and because Izzy wanted Trevor to seem like a "good guy." Izzy offered him an extra $10,000 if he used the new nickname. Trevor didn't like the idea of a Black man being called "The White Bishop," but he went along with it. He designed and sewed the costume above, which he wore while winning and defending the WCBO heavyweight championship from 2014 to 2017. In 2018, Lennox and Leila, two retired professional boxing champions, decided that they wanted to start a rival chess boxing league. They created the International Chess Boxing Association (ICBA), and they also published a list of seven essential rules: Rule 1: Matches are a maximum of 11 rounds long. Rule 2: 6 three-minute-rounds of chess alternate with 5 three-minute-rounds of boxing. Rule 3: First a chess round, then a boxing round, then a chess round, etc.... Rule 4: There is a 1-minute break between rounds. Rule 5: Each battler has 9 minutes on the chess timer. Rule 6: Battlers win by checkmate or knockout, whichever comes first. Rule 7: Battlers also win if their opponent is disqualified or exceeds the chess time limit. The ICBA also publishes a lengthier rulebook that differs in many ways from the WCBO rulebook, although the fundamental rules are the same. To jumpstart their new association, Lennox and Leila offered Trevor Williams $50,000 if he would switch to participating exclusively in ICBA events. Trevor agreed, on condition that he could be known as "The Black Bishop." Since 2019, he has participated in ICBA events using that nickname and wearing the following costume to enter the ring: Trevor continues to dominate heavyweight chess boxing, but now that he participates in ICBA events, he has adopted a "bad guy" or "heel" persona.

Blair and Casey are lawschool roommates, and they are big fans of professional chess boxing. Blair was a high school chess champion, while Casey was an amateur boxer. The roommates want to share their love of chess boxing with a broader community. Last year they started hosting live Zoom chess boxing chat videos. Blair made recordings of all of the original telecasts of the WCBO championships. For their chat videos, Blair and Casey play the video on mute so none of the original commentary can be heard. They then provide their own commentary, discussing the match that is taking place, as well as providing background on the history of chess boxing and biographies of its champions. Although they are both fans of the sport, they appreciate its inherent silliness, and they treat it with considerable irreverence. Although Blair and Casey's first video only had several views, they have become increasingly popular. While the quality of the videos is not very good, people seem to like learning about a new sport, and they especially enjoy Blair and Casey's witty banter. As with most Zoom videos, viewers can change the relative size of the images they are seeing. So they can make the chess boxing video large or small, and they can do the same with the videos of Blair and Casey's faces. And, of course, viewers can mute Blair and Casey and just watch the matches. The WCBO is upset about all of this. They do not like the competition from the ICBA for viewers or for talent. The WCBO wants to sue the ICBA for copyright infringement. The WCBO also wants Blair and Casey to stop making their videos. The WCBO hosts videos of its championship matches from 2014 to 2019 on its website, and it charges $10 a month for access to them. Videos from matches before 2014 are not available on the WCBO website. Although it is unclear whether Blair and Casey's videos are affecting the number of people who are paying for subscriptions to WCBO's website, the Wikipedia pages for chess boxing have seen considerable increases in traffic since they began Zooming. Enki has heard that Izzy is threatening to sue the ICBA, and he doesn't think that's fair. Enki is considering legal action against Izzy (but not against the others).

QUESTIONS: Discuss the respective rights and liabilities of the various parties. Focus your attention on the arguments that are most likely to be determinative in any legal action that might be brought.