Brief Fact Summary. Defendant sued Plaintiff in New York state court seeking a declaratory judgment that Defendant owned a one third interest in the copyrights of certain music. Plaintiff then instituted an action against Defendant in federal court in New York seeking declaratory relief pertaining to the exact same issue. Plaintiff argued that jurisdiction for the New York case was based on 28 U.S.C. Section: 1338. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. Federal question jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section: 1331 exists only if the claim arises under a federal law creating the cause of action. If the law creating the cause of action is not federal, then there is no federal question jurisdiction.
The general interest that copyrights, like all other forms of property, should be enjoyed by their true owner is not enough to meet this last test.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Is Plaintiff’s claim against Defendants created by the Copyright Act so as to confer jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section: 1331?
Held. No. Affirmed. The test to determine federal jurisdiction is whether the suit arises under a law that creates the cause of action. Another test to determine whether there is federal jurisdiction is whether there is a remedy available under the federal law on which jurisdiction is based. Because the issue in the case is whether Defendant assigned his rights to the music to Plaintiff, it does not arise from the Act because the Act only permits the assignment of such rights. The case does not require interpretation of any language of the Act nor is there a request for statutory relief under the Act.
Discussion. This case demonstrates that although federal law calls for federal jurisdiction over causes of action that “arise under” federal law, this language is often interpreted to mean that federal question jurisdiction is only appropriate when a cause of action is “created by” federal law.