Fox’s Empire Secures First-Amendment Win against Trademark Infringement Claims

Last month, in Twentieth Century Fox Television v. Empire Distribution, Inc., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13013 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 1, 2016), the United States District Court for the Central District of California ruled that Twentieth Century Fox Television’s use of the word “Empire” in connection with its hit television series of the same name is protected by the First Amendment. In a rebuke of similarly-named Empire Distribution, Inc.’s claim that the Fox series infringed upon and diluted the company’s trademarks, the court found that the show’s title deserved protection as an artistic expression.

Empire, the Fox television series that premiered in 2015, tells the story of Lucious Lyon and his family, all of whom fight for control over Lyon’s music and entertainment company, “Empire Enterprises,” upon learning that the mogul has been diagnosed with a fatal disease. Empire Distribution, meanwhile, is a record label, music distributor and publishing company founded in 2010. Similar to the fictional Empire Enterprises, Empire Distribution is a large producer and distributor of urban, hip hop, rap and R&B music. Empire Distribution also uses the trademark “Empire.”

In response to a cease and desist letter from Empire Distribution claiming it had rights to the Empire name and that the debut of the Empire series caused confusion over the affiliation between Empire Distribution and Fox’s Empire series, Fox filed suit to “protect its intellectual property rights” in the show. Empire Distribution counterclaimed for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition and false advertising.

U.S. District Judge Perce Anderson analyzed Empire Distribution’s claims under the two-part test for balancing Lanham Act claims with First Amendment rights first established by the Second Circuit in Rogers v. Grimaldi, 875 F.2d 994 (2nd Cir. 1989) (the “Rogers test”), later adopted by the Ninth Circuit in Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2002). Under the Rogers test, which is reserved for expressive works, an artistic work’s use of a trademark that would otherwise violate the Lanham Act is not actionable unless the mark has no artistic relevance to the underlying work whatsoever, or, if it has some artistic relevance, unless it explicitly misleads as to the source or the content of the work.

The first prong of the Rogers test requires showing that the use of a mark has artistic relevance to the underlying work. The court held that the word “Empire” was “clearly relevant to Fox’s work,” as the Empire series “tells the story of characters struggling for literal control over an entertainment company called ‘Empire Enterprises’ and figurative control over the vast ‘empire’ that Lucious Lyon has built. Additionally, the Empire series is set in New York, the Empire State.” Because the word “Empire” had genuine relevance to the Empire series and was not arbitrarily chosen to exploit Empire Distribution’s fame, the court held that the mark satisfied the first Rogers prong.

The second prong of the Rogers test requires a “junior user” – such as Fox – to show that its work does not explicitly mislead as to the source or content of the work. Here, again, the court sided with Fox, stating that it found no evidence of an “explicit indication, overt claim, or explicit misstatement” as to the source of the work. In reaching this determination, the court noted that “consumer confusion” as to the source of the work was irrelevant.

Accordingly, the court granted summary judgment in favor of Fox and ruled that Empire Distribution take nothing by way of its claims. The court’s ruling highlights the importance of First Amendment protections in the United States, particularly as Judge Anderson refused to consider ample evidence of consumer confusion in making his ruling. For example, when Empire Distribution recording artist Shaggy tweeted the record company’s logo, numerous fans immediately mistakenly interpreted it as a reference to the Empire series, retweeting the logo along with the hashtag “#teamcookie” (a reference to a character on the television series). The court’s focus on the behavior of the user, as opposed to the impact of the use, can serve as an important defense in many trademark infringement cases to come.