00:00:00
Finally, we've got a win in favor of
00:00:03
journalists, media outlets reporting
00:00:07
against Donald Trump in the form of a
00:00:10
new order by Judge Garfey in New York,
00:00:12
in favor of Simon and Schustster, the
00:00:13
publishing house, in favor of Bob
00:00:15
Woodward, the investigative reporter who
00:00:17
who together published over 20 different
00:00:22
audio interviews of Donald Trump that
00:00:25
Bob Woodward obtained when he was
00:00:26
writing the book Rage. and they
00:00:28
published it and repackaged it as audio
00:00:31
interviews in the Trump tapes. Donald
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Trump hated that they made $50 million
00:00:36
selling the Trump tapes. Donald Trump
00:00:38
wanted all the $50 million claiming he
00:00:41
was a co-author under the copyright
00:00:43
statutes. I'm going to tell you what
00:00:45
Judge Gardy said and with one twist
00:00:47
here. I'll put you on your edge of your
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seat at the top of this hottake. Simon
00:00:51
and Schustster used to be owned by the
00:00:54
Redstone family and Paramount until
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right before this case was filed. Then
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it was sold to a private equity firm. If
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it were still owned by uh if Simon and
00:01:04
Schustster, Woodward's publisher was
00:01:06
still owned by the Redstone family, I
00:01:08
assure you I would be reporting on a
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settlement being paid money to to Donald
00:01:14
Trump by Simon and Schustster being
00:01:16
forced by its its corporate parent. Uh
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just as we just saw in the CBS Tiffany
00:01:23
network throwing its reputation down the
00:01:25
sewer and flushing it down the toilet in
00:01:28
order to appease Donald Trump while
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Paramount was trying to get a regulatory
00:01:33
approval for a sale of its own business
00:01:35
where Steven Colbear was apparently the
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late night host to be named later and
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was sacrificed in order to appease
00:01:43
Donald Trump in that bribery scheme. So
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if Simon and Schustster, this is just
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fortuitous that right before the suit
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was filed, Simon and Schustster was sold
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by the Redstone family to KKR, a private
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equity firm. Otherwise, this would be a
00:01:57
much different report. But I'm here to
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tell you what Judge Gardy said. It's
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against Donald Trump. It's in favor of
00:02:02
Bob Woodward and journalism and the
00:02:04
Copyright Act. And I'm going to report
00:02:06
on it here on Might as Touch and Legal
00:02:07
AF. All right, let's get to it. In 2023,
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Donald Trump files a lawsuit, starts it
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in Pensacola, Florida. It gets
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transferred, of course, because it
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doesn't belong in Pensacola, Florida, to
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New York and gets assigned to Judge
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Gardy.
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Judge Gardy, side note, one of the
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slowest, he's a great judge, but one of
00:02:26
the slowest judges around. The New York
00:02:28
Post actually wrote an article about 5
00:02:30
years ago shaming trying to shame Judge
00:02:33
Gardy as having the slowest turnaround
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time for his orders ever, which would
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explain why we sort of lost track of
00:02:40
this case because this motion to dismiss
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was filed a long time ago. We now have
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the 81page order. It was well worth the
00:02:46
wait, Judge Gardy, about Donald Trump.
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Here's what happened. Trump agrees on
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the record, this is no dispute.
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Trump agrees to be interviewed because
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he's vain glorious by uh Woodward to
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write a book. And they have 20 different
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sessions between 2016 and then 2019 and
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2020. lots of different people attend
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based on the I'm I'm getting this from
00:03:11
the complaint, not not the original
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complaint, the third version of the
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complaint. That's how many times it's
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been dismissed. So they talk about, oh,
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there were these interviews and hundreds
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of hours and lots of people attended.
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Kellyanne Conway and Vice President
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Pence was there and the chief of staff
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for Donald Trump was there. Okay. Trump
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asked one, according to the complaint,
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Trump asked one question to Woodward.
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You're just using these tapes for the
00:03:36
book, right? He said, "Yeah, um like I'm
00:03:39
not doing reporting on like I'm not
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writing articles about about this. I'm
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doing a book." He said, "Okay." There
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was no discussion about whether the
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audio tapes were going to be separately
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packaged or who was going to own them.
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And the way the law works is that in
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interviews,
00:03:53
when you have question and answer,
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Trump tried to argue, well, I gave the
00:03:58
answer, so it's my copyright. No, that's
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not how that works. There's a lot of
00:04:02
different factors, but the main factor
00:04:03
is whoever fixes it. Fiix. It's a term
00:04:06
of art in the world of copyright.
00:04:08
Whoever fixes it in a defined permanent
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medium is the is the author for
00:04:13
copyright purposes. So two people could
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have participated in the project, but
00:04:18
whoever reduced it to writing or video
00:04:21
or digital or audio, they're the
00:04:24
copyright holder. And that's what led
00:04:26
Judge Gardy to say, I know you're
00:04:29
arguing that you're the joint owner of
00:04:31
the copyright, but you don't have a
00:04:33
contract. you have no facts to support
00:04:36
it, even your own complaint, because
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we're here on a on a motion to dismiss.
00:04:40
So, the judge has to accept as true
00:04:42
whatever is alleged in the four corners
00:04:44
of the complaint, the pleading that was
00:04:46
filed by Trump to get the com the case
00:04:48
off the ground, but can't look outside
00:04:50
of it. So even if you if you interpret
00:04:53
it in the light most favorable to the
00:04:56
non-moving party which is Trump Gardy
00:04:58
was like you don't have appropriate
00:05:00
allegations that that you could have
00:05:02
reasonably believed that you were the
00:05:04
joint owner of the copyright. Now Trump
00:05:07
says in his complaint I you know I ran
00:05:09
down and and the copyright office
00:05:12
recognizes me as a co-owner. Well, what
00:05:14
happened is in in February
00:05:17
of the year that the interview the last
00:05:19
interview was done or February of of
00:05:21
2021,
00:05:23
um Simon and Schustster ran down to the
00:05:26
copyright office and registered February
00:05:28
actually 2023. February 23, 2023,
00:05:32
Woodward obtained from the copyright
00:05:35
office the registration, the copyright
00:05:38
registration for the Trump tapes. 5 days
00:05:40
later, Trump waltzes in and tries to
00:05:43
register as well. Copyright office
00:05:44
doesn't resolve competing claims. Courts
00:05:47
do that. So, they both are recognized
00:05:49
until a court sorts it out. And that's
00:05:51
what the courts are sorting out here.
00:05:53
That's what Gardiffy is trying to sort
00:05:54
out. So, Gardiffy in his 81 pages goes
00:05:58
through the whole analysis and says,
00:05:59
"Look, I'm looking at your complaint,
00:06:00
Trump. You have to allege facts to
00:06:03
support that you are a joint author to
00:06:06
own the copyright." And I don't see that
00:06:09
anywhere in your complaint. In fact, I
00:06:11
see counter evidence in your own
00:06:13
allegations that undermine your argument
00:06:15
that you are a joint owner. And under
00:06:17
the copyright law, that's going to kill
00:06:21
all your other claims for breach of
00:06:23
contract, unjust enrichment, and the
00:06:24
rest because copyright law is
00:06:27
sacrosanked in this area and ousts all
00:06:30
common law or state claims that are
00:06:32
contrary to the copyright act. and
00:06:35
they've got you dead. You know,
00:06:37
effectively the judge is telling him
00:06:38
Simon and Schustster has you dead to
00:06:40
rights on copyright law. You don't own
00:06:42
it. This is all about money. By the way,
00:06:44
this is not defamation. This is about
00:06:46
Donald Trump wants a major piece or all
00:06:49
of the $50 million that was made on the
00:06:51
Trump tapes. You know what summer memory
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So at the end of this process
00:08:09
now that Woodward has won the judge has
00:08:12
given a and he's bending over backwards
00:08:14
here because after the second amended
00:08:16
complaint which is the you know you have
00:08:18
the complaint your first amended
00:08:20
complaint your second amended complaint.
00:08:22
So, there's been three opportunities
00:08:24
that's been given already to Trump's
00:08:25
side to get their pleading straight and
00:08:28
to survive a motion to dismiss. All
00:08:29
failed.
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Most federal judges would be like,
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"Three times, you're out." Uh, and I see
00:08:35
any attempt at you alleging something
00:08:38
different to get around the copyright
00:08:39
statute or to allege a tort or some sort
00:08:42
of contract claim that's independent of
00:08:44
copyright act, it won't be uh that won't
00:08:47
be uh preempted by it, is futile. The
00:08:49
judge said, "I'm not going to find
00:08:51
futility yet." Which is another doctrine
00:08:53
in pleading practice because the judge
00:08:56
will give you leave to amend a few times
00:09:00
unless you could never state a claim
00:09:03
under pleading standards and the
00:09:06
standards for the particular claims that
00:09:07
you're bringing. Then we call that
00:09:09
futility or amendment futility. And the
00:09:12
judges will deny it because they'll be
00:09:14
like, "I could give you another shot,
00:09:15
but you're never going to get it. You're
00:09:16
never going to be able to get over that
00:09:17
hurdle." So, here's what the judge says
00:09:19
on page um 58, which sort of comes to
00:09:21
the end of his order. Uh while it
00:09:24
appears unlikely that plainif can
00:09:26
adequately plead a plausible copyright
00:09:29
interest in the Trump tapes or any
00:09:31
non-prempted state law claim, this court
00:09:33
cannot find at this stage that any
00:09:35
amendment would be futile. Accordingly,
00:09:37
leave to move to amend is granted. any
00:09:40
motion for leave to file a third amended
00:09:42
complaint. That would be the fourth try
00:09:44
for a complaint to survive must be filed
00:09:46
on August 18th, 2025. So, he gave him a
00:09:49
month and we'll explain how the new
00:09:51
pleading addresses the deficiencies or
00:09:54
defects that are cited in this opinion.
00:09:56
Because other words, they've laid out
00:09:57
he's laid out the blueprint of what the
00:09:59
complaint has to look like. And then you
00:10:01
have to so he's going to have to file a
00:10:03
motion for leave to amend attach the
00:10:06
proposed third amendment complaint as an
00:10:08
exhibit and then the judge will take a
00:10:10
look at it and see if this resolves the
00:10:13
problem. Uh
00:10:16
I think that Trump is going to lose. I
00:10:18
think Trump's best best world scenario
00:10:21
is if Simon and Schustster had stayed
00:10:23
connected and owned by Sher Redstone and
00:10:27
Paramount. So when they wrapped up the
00:10:29
whole 15 million30 millioncar's
00:10:32
head on a pike settlement,
00:10:35
they would have included the Simon and
00:10:38
Schustster as a subsidiary and this
00:10:40
particular lawsuit. Yeah. So um that's
00:10:45
the good news here. It also goes to show
00:10:47
you how important independent commentary
00:10:51
and channels and YouTube channels like
00:10:53
this one are because you see what's
00:10:55
happening in the world of corporateowned
00:10:59
media. They're throwing the Tiffany
00:11:02
network, Edward R. Muro's network,
00:11:06
Walter Kankit's network, journalism, the
00:11:09
integrity of journalism down the drain.
00:11:13
Washington Post owned by Basos. That
00:11:16
Washington Post isn't worth the paper
00:11:18
it's written on any longer. It's not the
00:11:21
Washington Post when Bob Woodward wrote
00:11:22
for it in the 70s with Carl Bernstein
00:11:25
and the um Puliter Prizewinning uh
00:11:29
exposees about the Nixon administration.
00:11:32
LA Times, throw that into the put that
00:11:34
at the bottom of your bird cage owned by
00:11:37
a billionaire who doesn't care about the
00:11:39
First Amendment or American values. Uh
00:11:42
then you have um Colbear being fired.
00:11:46
Obviously, it's obvious. I mean, come
00:11:48
on. Let's be frank. Um just days after
00:11:51
he does a scathing rebuke of his
00:11:54
corporate parent, Paramount. Um it's
00:11:56
obvious that he that he there was a
00:11:58
requirement for him to get canned. And
00:12:00
then you got, you know, people like on
00:12:01
our own network like Katie Fang. Um we
00:12:03
will never get canned. I will never get
00:12:05
canned by Midas Dutch for something that
00:12:07
I say. I'm not told what to say. They
00:12:10
don't speak to me afterwards about what
00:12:12
I say. I'm not censored. They rely on my
00:12:16
professionalism, my professional
00:12:18
maturity, my reputation, my brand to do
00:12:24
quality commentary that's based on truth
00:12:28
and appropriate commentary around that
00:12:30
without blowing smoke or sunshine.
00:12:31
That's it. But we need protection and we
00:12:35
need to stay on the air at this critical
00:12:37
moment in our democracy to be the
00:12:39
firewall. So the way to do that is hit
00:12:42
the subscribe button for the Midas Touch
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Network. Come on over to Legal AF the
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YouTube channel. Do the exact same
00:12:47
thing. No payw wall, no outside
00:12:49
investors. We just need thumbs hitting
00:12:52
subscription buttons. I mean, I hate to
00:12:54
put it that way, but that's what it is.
00:12:56
Uh and I'm uh and I'm honored of course
00:12:58
to be on this network running the
00:13:01
channel with the minus touch brothers
00:13:04
and bringing you the legal AF podcast as
00:13:06
well. So till my next report, I'm
00:13:08
Michael Popock. Can't get your fill of
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legal AF? Me neither. That's why we
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[Music]
