In Laws v. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., the Ninth Circuit addressed the Copyright Act preempts the state common law right to privacy and the state statutory right of publicity. The case relates to a dispute over Debra Laws' song, "Very Special," which was incorporated into another released by Sony. The district court held that Laws' privacy and publicity claims were preempted by the Copyright Act. The Ninth Circuit agreed.
The court held:
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that § 301 of the Copyright Act governs the issue of preemption;
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that the Ninth Circuit applies a two-part test to determine whether a state claim is preempted under § 301: the court determines (i) whether the "subject matter" of the state law claim falls within the subject matter of copyright, and if it does, the court decides (ii) whether the rights asserted under the state law are equivalent to the rights of copyright holders under 17 U.S.C. § 106;
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that the subject matter of Laws' claims is within the subject matter of the copyright because the "subject" in dispute--Laws' recording--plainly is a work that falls squarely within the definition of a work of authorship entitled to copyright protection under 17 U.S.C. § 102;
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that "it is clear that federal copyright law preempts a claim alleging misappropriation of one’s voice when the entirety of the allegedly misappropriated vocal performance is contained within a copyrighted medium";
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that the rights asserted by Laws in her state law claims are equivalent to the rights of copyright holders under 17 U.S.C. § 106; and
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that "[a]lthough the elements of Laws’s state law claims may not be identical to the elements in a copyright action, the underlying nature of Laws’s state law claims is part and parcel of a copyright claim."
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