British Telecomms. PLC v. IAC/Interactivecorp
British Telecomms. PLC v. IAC/Interactivecorp
Opinion of the Court
*408BACKGROUND
Plaintiff British Telecommunications plc ("British Telecom") filed its first amended complaint in this action on June 8, 2018, against IAC/InteractiveCorp ("IAC"), Match Group, Inc. ("MGI"), Match Group, LLC, and Vimeo, Inc. The first amended complaint alleged that the named defendants infringed six patents through the provision of four online services: Match.com, Tinder, OkCupid, and Vimeo. See Dkt. No. 17, at 24-53. The six patents include U.S. Patent Nos. 6,240,450 ; 6,397,040 ; 6,578,079 ; 7,243,105 ; 7,974,200 ; and 9,177,297. Id. at 24-25.
The defendants' corporate structure is relevant to this motion. IAC is a Delaware corporation with its headquarters in New York City. Id. at 8. MGI, also a Delaware corporation, is an IAC subsidiary; according to the complaint, IAC "owns over 81% of [MGI's] stock value, and controls over 97% of [MGI's] voting rights." Id. at 11. Vimeo, Inc., is also a subsidiary of IAC. Id. at 18. Additionally, Match Group, LLC, and Humor Rainbow, Inc., are subsidiaries of MGI. Id. at 15, 16. Vimeo, Inc., operates Vimeo. Match Group, LLC, operates Match.com and Tinder. And Humor Rainbow, Inc., operates OkCupid.
Defendants IAC and MGI have filed a motion under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) to dismiss British Telecom's first amended complaint for failure to plead state a claim on which relief can be granted. Dkt. No. 20. IAC and MGI argue that British Telecom has failed to plead facts plausibly demonstrating that IAC or MGI owns or operates any of the alleged infringing services or that either company is liable for any acts of alleged infringement by any of the other defendants. Dkt. No. 21, at 1. According to IAC and MGI, "[n]either IAC nor MGI operates the accused services[;] [n]evertheless, [British Telecom's first amended complaint] seeks to hold the two companies liable for the alleged infringement by their subsidiary companies that do operate the accused services." Id. at 2. British Telecom disagrees, stating that, aside from vicarious liability, the first amended complaint shows that IAC and MGI "own and operate each of the underlying accused services, websites, and applications." Dkt. No. 27, at 2, 5-15.
The motion to dismiss asserts that IAC and MGI are not liable for infringement on either of two theories: (1) vicarious liability based on an alter ago theory, and (2) vicarious liability based on an agency theory. In response, British Telecom does not allege liability on an alter ego theory, but relies only on an agency theory. Dkt. No. 27, at 11 n.2. The Court will therefore focus on whether British Telecom's first amended complaint is sufficient to meet the pleading requirements for British Telecom's agency theory of liability. Because the Court finds that the pleadings are sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss under an agency theory of vicarious liability, it is not necessary to address whether the first amended complaint shows that IAC or MGI actually owns or operates the accused services.
DISCUSSION
When presented with a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the *409court applies a two-part analysis: (1) "the factual and legal elements of a claim should be separated," and (2) accepting all of the complaint's well-pleaded facts as true, the court "must then determine whether the facts alleged in the complaint are sufficient to show that the plaintiff has a 'plausible claim for relief.' " Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside ,
"A parent company is not liable for the actions of its subsidiary solely because of the parent-subsidiary relationship." StrikeForce Techs., Inc. v. PhoneFactor, Inc. , No. CV 13-490,
Under the alter ego theory, the court must determine whether a parent and its subsidiary are truly separate. See Phoenix Canada Oil Co. Ltd. v. Texaco, Inc. ,
The agency theory differs in scope and application. Under the agency theory, "total domination or general alter ego criteria need not be proven."
Here, the facts alleged in the complaint are sufficient to show that British Telecom has a plausible claim for relief against IAC and MGI under an agency theory of vicarious liability. With regard to MGI, the first amended complaint alleges that MGI: (1) "represents to the public and shareholders that Match, Tinder and OkCupid are its proprietary brands, operated by [MGI]"; (2) "provides the technology *410and network systems that perform the steps for the Match.com, Tinder, and OkCupid products/services that infringe [British Telecom's] patents"; (3) "share[s] [user] information with other Match Group companies to ... improve [users'] chances at building significant connections with others"; (4) "directly hires and fires officers of its subsidiaries, including Humor Rainbow, Inc. and ... Match Group, LLC"; (5) "shares officers and directors and shuffles officers throughout its subsidiaries"; and (6) relies on a system in which the "persons responsible for overseeing [MGI and] Humor Rainbow, Inc. ... also report directly to [MGI's] CEO, rather than reporting to their own companies' boards of directors." Dkt. No. 17, at 11-17. Those factual allegations, accepted as true, amount to more than bald, conclusory assertions that should be disregarded. See BlackBerry Ltd. v. Nokia Corp. , No. 17-CV-155,
IAC's relationship to MGI's subsidiaries is somewhat less clear. The first amended complaint notes, at the outset, that in IAC's Annual Reports, "[a]ll references to 'IAC,' the 'Company,' 'we,' 'our' or 'us' ... are to IAC." Dkt. No. 17, at 9. It then cites to language from numerous Annual Reports in which IAC allegedly discusses its relationship (using the pronoun "we") to the alleged infringing products and services. This language includes: (1) "[t]hrough Match Group, we operate a dating business ... [and] provide these [dating] services through websites and applications that we own and operate"; (2) "we also offer access to our services via various mobile devices through our Match, OkCupid, [and] Tinder ... applications"; (3) "[w]e also continually work to expand and enhance the efficiency and scalability of our technology and network systems." Dkt. No. 21, at 9-12. The first amended complaint also alleges that IAC "promulgated the infringing products/services of the '040 Patent... and the '105 Patent... across and incorporated them into each of the dating business products/services." Id. at 13. While the connection between the grandparent company and its sub-subsidiaries is more attenuated than the connection between MGI and its subsidiaries, the requisite "evidence of agency required at the pleading stage is minimal.... Although this corporate closeness may not be sufficient to succeed on agency theory at later stages in litigation, it is sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss, if the parties are properly and individually identified." T-Jat Sys. ,
IAC is also the parent company of Vimeo, Inc., and the first amended complaint alleges a plausible agency relationship between IAC and Vimeo. It cites language from IAC's Annual Reports including: (1) "[w]e offer basic video hosting and sharing services ... and the ability to sell videos"; (2) "[t]hrough Vimeo, we offer video creators ... tools to share, manage distribute and monetize content online, and provide viewers with a clutter-free environment to watch content"; (3) "[w]e market Vimeo's services ... through our owned and operated website and mobile applications"; and (4) "[w]e also continually work to expand and enhance the efficiency and scalability of our technology and network systems" (language also used to describe IAC's relationship with MGI's subsidiaries). Dkt. No. 17, at 10-12. The amended complaint also alleges that "Vimeo, Inc.'s revenue is consolidated and reported as part of the operations of IAC." Id. at 18. Based on those allegations, the Court finds that British Telecom has plausibly alleged that Vimeo, Inc., is directed and controlled by IAC, particularly with respect to the Vimeo products and services that assertedly infringe the '450 patent (Vimeo's Advanced Stats features), the '079 patent (Vimeo's basic video "purchased" or "rented" features), and the '200 patent (Vimeo and Vimeo Live products/services). See Dkt. No. 21, at 3.
Citing Akzona Inc. v. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. ,
(1) Akzo's 100% ownership of Enka and Akzona; (2) some overlap between the board of directors and Akzo and those of Enka and Akzona; (3) references to Enka and Akzona as divisions of Akzo in the Akzo annual report; (4) deposition of current and former Enka employees in which they referred to Enka as a division of Akzo and stated that the Enka board reported to the Akzo board; (5) the requirement that Akzo approve capital expenditures by Enka and Akzona of amounts exceeding $ 850,000; (6) references to Akzo's board members' supervision of the "divisions"; (7) references in Akzo board meetings and in corporate reports to the development of advanced fibers as an "Akzo decision" and "Akzo project"; (8) Akzo taking credit for the advanced fiber project in its annual report; (9) Akzo's negotiation with an agency of the Dutch government to set up a joint venture with Enka to manufacture aramid fibers; (10) Akzo's guarantee of 50% of the Dutch government loans to Enka; and (11) Akzo's participation in the decision to bring this declaratory judgment action.
*412
The Court disagrees. The analysis conducted in Akzona has been recognized by subsequent courts in this district (either explicitly or implicitly) as being more akin to an alter ego analysis than to a conventional agency analysis. See Upjohn Co. v. Syntro Corp. , No. CIV. A. 89-107,
The Akzona court's reliance on Japan Petroleum Co. (Nigeria) Ltd. v. Ashland Oil ,
IAC and MGI also attempt to draw parallels between this case and BlackBerry Ltd. v. Nokia Corp. , No. 17-CV-155,
Therefore, IAC and MGI's motion to dismiss for failure to plead facts plausibly demonstrating that IAC or MGI owns or operates any of the alleged infringing services or that either company is liable for *413the alleged infringement of the other defendants is denied.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Humor Rainbow, Inc. was not named as a defendant in the first amended complaint.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLC v. IAC/INTERACTIVECORP, Match Group, Inc., Match Group, LLC, and Vimeo, Inc.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published