Roland Chambers, Jr. v. Amazon.com, Inc.

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 3:14-cv-04890-MGL Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999719191]. Mailed to: Chambers. [15-1767]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-1767

ROLAND CHAMBERS, JR.,
Plaintiff – Appellant,
v.
AMAZON.COM INC.; APPLE INC.; ARTIST DIRECT.COM; BOP.FM;
CCMUSIC.COM;
CD
BABY;
CD
UNIVERSE;
HBDIRECT.COM;
RAKUTEN.COM; SEARS.COM; TOWER.COM,
Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Columbia.
Mary G. Lewis, District Judge.
(3:14-cv-04890-MGL)

Submitted:

November 30, 2015

Decided:

December 16, 2015

Before AGEE, DIAZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Roland Chambers, Jr., Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Roland Chambers, Jr., appeals the district court’s order
adopting

the

recommendation

summarily

dismissing

this

of

action

the

magistrate

alleging

judge

violations

of

and
the

Copyright Act of 1976 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA).

We affirm.
I

In his complaint, Chambers stated that in 2001 he provided
to

Defendant

CD

Baby,

an

Oregon-based

business

entity,

five

compact discs (CD’s) containing 11 songs and one video, with CD
Baby

acting

as

an

“online

consignor.”

Reliable

Brokering,

described as “a business owned and operated by Roland Chambers,”
allegedly owned copyrights on six of the 12 pieces of work.
2014,

Chambers

discovered

that

the

material

was

In

allegedly

selling beyond the quantity produced, and in various formats
including digital files and physical discs.

CD Baby did not pay

Chambers for any of the CD’s until 2014, when Chambers purchased
a CD from Amazon.com.

Chambers discovered that CD Baby was

selling the copyrighted works in digital form, although Chambers
had not made the material available in such form.

Additionally,

he discovered that other Defendants, including Amazon.com and
Apple, Inc., were offering the copyrighted material for sale in
digital and/or physical form.

Chambers claimed violations of

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the Copyright Act and the DMCA.

He sought damages exceeding $4

billion from various Defendants.
The

magistrate

pauperis

and

judge

granted

recommended

summary

leave

to

proceed

dismissal.

The

in

forma

magistrate

judge found that Chambers had definitively stated facts showing
that only one CD had been sold and, therefore, he failed to
provide

support

for

his

claim

that

any

defendant

unauthorized copy of the copyrighted material.
court

overruled

recommendation,

Chambers’
finding

objections

that

the

an

The district

and

complaint

made

adopted
and

the

attachments

thereto failed to provide sufficient factual support for a cause
of action under either the Copyright Act or the DMCA.
II
Although the district court did not articulate a basis for
its

dismissal,

authority

it

under

appears
28

that

U.S.C.

the

court

was

§ 1915(e)(2)

exercising

(2012)

to

its

dismiss

Chambers’ in forma pauperis action sua sponte for failure to
state

a

claim.

The

truncated

treatment

given

the

claims

—

dismissing the action without ordering service of process on
Defendants — appears consistent with what Congress envisioned
with

§ 1915(e),

claims

without

namely,

requiring

requiring

dismissal

defendants

to

of

insubstantial

file

responsive

pleadings.

See Cochran v. Morris, 73 F.3d 1310, 1315 (4th Cir.

1996)

banc)

(en

(concluding

that
3

abbreviated

treatment

of

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complaint

was

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evidence

of

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court’s

intent

to

exercise

its

dismissal authority under predecessor to § 1915(e)).
Section 1915(e)(2) directs a district court to dismiss a
case if the court finds that it is frivolous or malicious, fails
to state a claim, or seeks damages from a defendant who is
immune from such relief.

“A complaint is subject to dismissal

for failure to state a claim if the allegations, taken as true,
show the plaintiff is not entitled to relief.”
549 U.S. 199, 215 (2007).

Jones v. Bock,

Although “the allegations in pro se

complaints should be liberally construed,” De’Lonta v. Angelone,
330 F.3d 630, 633 (4th Cir. 2003), the complaint must contain
factual allegations sufficient “to raise a right to relief above
the speculative level” and “to state a claim to relief that is
plausible on its face.”
544, 555, 570 (2007).

Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S.

“Determining whether a complaint states a

plausible claim for relief [is] . . . a context-specific task
that

requires

the

reviewing

court

to

draw

on

its

judicial

experience and common sense.”

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662,

679

novo

(2009).

We

review

de

a

§ 1915(e)(2)

dismissal.

Slade v. Hampton Rds. Reg’l Jail, 407 F.3d 243, 248 (4th Cir.
2005).
III
“To establish a claim for copyright infringement under the
Copyright Act . . . , a plaintiff must prove that [he] possesses
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a

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valid

[the]

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copyright

work

that

and

are

that

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the

original

defendant

and

copied

Bieber, 789 F.3d 484, 488 (4th Cir. 2015).

of

Copeland

protectable.”

elements

v.

“Absent direct proof

of copying, which is hard to come by, a plaintiff may prove
copying indirectly, with evidence showing that the defendant had
access to the copyrighted work and that the purported copy is
‘substantially similar’ to the original.”
Chambers

did

not

set

forth

Id.

sufficient

plausible claim of copyright infringement.

facts

to

state

a

Although he appeared

to identify a copyright by number, he stated that the copyright
was registered to Reliable Brokering — not to himself.

Reliable

Brokering was simply described as “a business owned and operated
by Roland Chambers, Jr.”

Chambers did not provide any details

about the structure of Reliable Brokering.

Chambers asserted in

the complaint that numerous copies of his CD — more than the
five

he

originally

supplied

CD

Baby

—

were

available

from

various Defendants but provided no evidence of this.

We find

that

in

Chambers

complaint

to

did

not

establish

set

forth

either

sufficient

that

he

facts

possessed

a

his
valid

copyright or that any of the Defendants reproduced copyrighted
work.
Through the DMCA, “Congress sought to mitigate the problems
presented by copyright enforcement in the digital age.”

MDY

Indus., LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., 629 F.3d 928, 942
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(9th Cir. 2010).
at

the

“The DMCA contains three provisions directed

circumvention

measures”

that

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are

of

copyright

either

owners’

designed

to

technological

control

access

copyrighted works or to protect a copyright owner’s rights.

to
Id.

“A copyright owner alleging a violation of [the DMCA] must prove
that

the

circumvention

of

the

technological

measure

either

infringes or facilitates infringing a right protected by the
Copyright

Act.”

Storage

Tech.

Corp.

v.

Custom

Hardware

Engineering & Consulting, Inc., 421 F.3d 1307, 1318 (Fed. Cir.
2005) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Chambers

did

not

state

any

facts

from

which

it

might

reasonably be inferred that there was a violation of the DMCA.
Specifically,

he

did

not

claim

to

have

put

into

place

a

technological measure that would have protected a copyright or
that any Defendant circumvented such a measure.

Thus, dismissal

of the complaint insofar as it claimed a DMCA violation was
proper.
IV
We

therefore

affirm.

We

dispense

with

oral

argument

because the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented
in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED

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