Nicolson v. Shafe 1st District Court case

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTFOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIAATLANTA DIVISION JEANNETTE C. NICHOLSON, Ph.D.,an individual, and CAREERASSESSMENT ATLANTA, INC., aGeorgia corporation,Plaintiffs, CIVIL ACTION FILEv. NO. 1:03-CV-3573-BBM JAMES C. SHAFE, an individual,CAREER TRAINING CONCEPTS,INC., a Georgia corporation, andSALES AND MANAGEMENTTRAINING INSTITUTE OFATLANTA, a previous Georgiacorporation,Defendants.

O R D E R

This action alleging copyright infringement and various state law claims isbefore the court on Defendants’ Motion for Extension of Page Limit [Doc. No. 55];Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 56]; Defendants’ Motion toCompel [Doc. No. 59]; Defendants’ Motion for Extension of Time to File Motion toCompel [Doc. No. 61]; and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File a Sur-reply Brief [Doc.No. 70]

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1

All evidence and factual inferences must be viewed in the light most favorable tothe non-moving party at the summary judgment stage. See Stewart v. Happy Herman'sCheshire Bridge, Inc.

, 117 F.3d 1278, 1285 (11th Cir. 1997).

2

Plaintiff Nicholson has a Ph.D. in professional counseling.

3

Defendants Career Training Concepts, Inc. and Sales and Management TrainingInstitute of Atlanta merged in 1987. Based on the record, it appears that the company isnow known as Career Training Concepts, Inc.

4

Plaintiffs have withdrawn a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets.2

I.Factual and Procedural Background

The facts presented here are taken from the parties’ Statements of MaterialFacts and the court’s own review of the record, and where disputed are construed infavor of the non-moving party.

1

Plaintiffs Jeannette Nicholson, Ph.D.

2

(“Nicholson”)and her company, Career Assessment Atlanta, Inc. (“CAA”), bring this action againstDefendants Career Training Concepts, Inc. (“CTC”), CTC’s President and ChiefExecutive Officer James C. Shafe (“Shafe”), and Sales and Management TrainingInstitute of Atlanta (“SMTI”)

3

for copyright infringement, breach of contract,quantum meruit, deceptive trade practices and false association, common law andstate law statutory unfair competition, fraud and misrepresentation, and unjustenrichment.

4

This court has jurisdiction over the claims because of the existence ofa federal question arising under federal copyright laws. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 & 1338.

3The court may, within its discretion, exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the stateclaims. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367.In the fall of 1987, Nicholson, at the request of Shafe, created an InterestInventory for inclusion in a publication Defendants were developing, entitled “CareerDirection,” aimed at providing high school students with career information.Specifically, the Interest Inventory was created to measure students’ interest invarious activities for the purpose of identifying certain occupational categoriessuitable for individual students.

The Interest Inventory contained a section entitled“What Your Scores Mean,” which consisted of five columns of information.On October 12, 1987, Nicholson signed a contract with CTC (the “Agreement”),in which the parties memorialized their understanding that all work done related toCareer Direction was performed on a work for hire basis, and that CTC retainedownership rights in the resulting work. Nicholson understood the Agreement toapply only to the Career Direction project. Career Direction was first published in1987.In late 1993, Defendants asked Nicholson to create an Interest Inventory for awork entitled “FutureFocus,” aimed at providing middle school students with careerinformation. For FutureFocus, Nicholson created an Interest Inventory, whichcontained a section entitled “What Your Scores Mean,” consisting of eleven columns