KNB Enterprises v. Matthews

In KNB Enterprises v. Matthews (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 362, the owner of a copyright of photographs of models sued an Internet Web site which featured the photographs without authorization. (Id. at pp. 365-366.) The Court of Appeal held the statutory misappropriation claims were not equivalent to a copyright infringement claim; therefore, federal copyright law did not preempt the state law claims. (Id. at pp. 374-375.) The Court of Appeal noted that the Fleet analysis was limited to its facts. KNB Enterprises further noted that Fleet v. CBS, Inc. (1996) relied on incomplete statements from Professor Nimmer's treatise which actually supported the proposition that name and likeness claims are not copyrightable; hence name and likeness claims are not preempted. (Id. at pp. 373-374.)