FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
PARIS HILTON, No. 08-55443
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No.
v. 2:07-cv-05818-PA-
HALLMARK CARDS, a Missouri AJW
corporation, ORDER AND
Defendant-Appellant. AMENDED
OPINION
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Percy Anderson, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted
May 6, 2009—Pasadena, California
Opinion Filed August 31, 2009
Amended Opinion Filed March 23, 2010
Before: John T. Noonan, Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, and
Susan P. Graber, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge O’Scannlain
4685
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4689
COUNSEL
Lincoln D. Bandlow, Spillane Shaeffer Aronoff Bandlow
LLP, Los Angeles, California, argued the cause for the appel-
lant and filed briefs.
Brent H. Blakely, Blakely Law Group, Hollywood, Califor-
nia, argued the cause for the appellee and filed the brief.
Lynn Rowe Larsen and Timothy F. Sweeney, Law Office of
Timothy Farrell Sweeney, Cleveland, Ohio, filed the brief for
amicus curiae IMG Worldwide, Inc.
ORDER
The opinion filed in this case on August 31, 2009, and
reported at 580 F.3d 874, is hereby amended. An amended
opinion is filed concurrently with this order. With this amend-
ment, the panel has unanimously voted to deny the petition
for rehearing. Judges O’Scannlain and Graber have voted to
deny the petition for rehearing en banc, and Judge Noonan so
recommends. The full court has been advised of the petition
for rehearing en banc and no active judge has requested a vote
on whether to rehear the matter en banc. Fed. R. App. P. 35.
The petition for rehearing and the petition for rehearing en
banc are DENIED. No subsequent petitions for rehearing and
rehearing en banc may be filed.
OPINION
O’SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:
We must decide whether California law allows a celebrity
to sue a greeting card company for using her image and catch-
phrase in a birthday card without her permission.
4690 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
I
Paris Hilton is a controversial celebrity known for her life-
style as a flamboyant heiress. As the saying goes, she is “fa-
mous for being famous.”
She is also famous for starring in “The Simple Life,” a so-
called reality television program. The show places her and fel-
low heiress Nicole Ritchie in situations for which, the audi-
ence is to assume, their privileged upbringings have not
prepared them. For example, work. In an episode called
“Sonic Burger Shenanigans,” Hilton is employed as a waitress
in a “fast food joint.” As in most episodes, Hilton says, “that’s
hot,” whenever she finds something interesting or amusing.
She has registered the phrase as a trademark with the United
States Patent & Trademark Office.
Hallmark Cards is a major national purveyor of greeting
cards for various occasions. This case is about one of its birth-
day cards. The front cover of the card contains a picture above
a caption that reads, “Paris’s First Day as a Waitress.” The
picture depicts a cartoon waitress, complete with apron, serv-
ing a plate of food to a restaurant patron. An oversized photo-
graph of Hilton’s head is super-imposed on the cartoon
waitress’s body. Hilton says to the customer, “Don’t touch
that, it’s hot.” The customer asks, “what’s hot?” Hilton
replies, “That’s hot.” The inside of the card reads, “Have a
smokin’ hot birthday.”
Hilton sued Hallmark, asserting three causes of action. The
First Amended Complaint alleges misappropriation of public-
ity under California common law; false designation under the
Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); and infringement of a fed-
erally registered trademark. Hallmark filed a motion to dis-
miss each claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim on which relief could be
granted. The district court granted one portion of the motion
to dismiss: the trademark infringement claim, a judgment
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4691
from which Hilton does not appeal. By separate motion, Hall-
mark moved specially to strike Hilton’s right of publicity
claim under California’s anti-SLAPP statute.1 In both
motions, Hallmark raised defenses peculiar to each cause of
action, some based on the First Amendment to the United
States Constitution and some not.
The district court denied the remaining portions of the
motions to dismiss and denied the special motion to strike the
anti-SLAPP claim. It concluded that the defenses required a
more fact-intensive inquiry than is permissible at such stage
of the case. Hallmark timely appeals.
II
Before discussing the merits of this appeal, we must assure
ourselves that we have jurisdiction over the appeal of denials
of both motions.
A
[1] As to the special motion to strike, appellate courts gen-
erally have jurisdiction only over final judgments and orders.
28 U.S.C. § 1291; Digital Equip. Corp. v. Desktop Direct,
Inc., 511 U.S. 863, 867-68 (1994). The collateral order doc-
trine, however, “entitles a party to appeal not only from [ordi-
nary final judgments] . . . but also from a narrow class of
decisions that do not terminate the litigation, but must, in the
interest of achieving a healthy legal system, . . . nonetheless
be treated as final.” Digital Equip. Corp., 511 U.S. at 867
(internal citations and quotation marks omitted). We have
1
“SLAPP” stands for “strategic lawsuit against public participation.” As
we discuss further infra, so-called “anti-SLAPP” laws are designed to bar
meritless lawsuits filed merely to chill someone from exercising his First
Amendment rights on a matter of public interest. California’s version is
codified at California Civil Procedure Code § 425.16. The relevant text is
set out on p. 4696 infra.
4692 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
held that denials of special motions to strike under Califor-
nia’s anti-SLAPP statute fall into this narrow class. Batzel v.
Smith, 333 F.3d 1018, 1024-26 (9th Cir. 2003) (noting that
anti-SLAPP motions to strike assert a form of immunity from
suit); but cf. Englert v. MacDonell, 551 F.3d 1099, 1106-07
(9th Cir. 2009) (holding that the denial of an anti-SLAPP
motion under then-current Oregon law is not an appealable
collateral order, while recognizing that the denial of a Califor-
nia anti-SLAPP motion is). Thus, we are satisfied that we
have jurisdiction to review the denial of Hallmark’s anti-
SLAPP motion under the collateral order doctrine.2
B
Denials of motions to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) are ordi-
narily not appealable, even as collateral orders. See Catlin v.
United States, 324 U.S. 229, 236 (1945). However, we “per-
mit[ ] the exercise of appellate jurisdiction over otherwise
non-appealable orders that are ‘inextricably intertwined’ with
another order that is properly appealable.” Batzel, 333 F.3d at
1023. This doctrine requires either that “we must decide the
pendent issue in order to review the claims properly raised on
interlocutory appeal . . . or [that] resolution of the issue prop-
erly raised on interlocutory appeal necessarily resolves the
pendent issue.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
1
We first address whether we have jurisdiction over the
denial of the motion to dismiss the Lanham Act claim as an
order inextricably intertwined with the anti-SLAPP motion.
2
Applying the familiar framework of Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304
U.S. 64 (1938), and its progeny, we have long held that the anti-SLAPP
statute applies to state law claims that federal courts hear pursuant to their
diversity jurisdiction. See United States ex rel. Newsham v. Lockheed Mis-
siles & Space Co., 190 F.3d 963, 970-73 (9th Cir. 1999).
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4693
Hallmark argues that the defenses it raises to Hilton’s Lan-
ham Act claim are based on some of the same First Amend-
ment concerns that animate its potential defenses to the
misappropriation of publicity claim. That may be, but Hall-
mark only moved to strike the misappropriation of publicity
claim. Indeed, it could not have moved to strike the Lanham
Act claim because, as the parties agree, the anti-SLAPP stat-
ute does not apply to federal law causes of action. See Bulletin
Displays, LLC v. Regency Outdoor Adver., Inc., 448 F. Supp.
2d 1172, 1180-82 (C.D. Cal. 2006). A motion to dismiss one
cause of action is not, ordinarily, inextricably intertwined with
a motion to strike a different cause of action under Califor-
nia’s anti-SLAPP law, even if the two claims are doctrinally
similar.
[2] Because a federal court can only entertain anti-SLAPP
special motions to strike in connection with state law claims,
there is no properly appealable order with which the Lanham
Act claim could be inextricably intertwined. We therefore
lack jurisdiction to review it.
2
What about the denial of the portions of Hallmark’s motion
to dismiss pertaining to the misappropriation of publicity
claim, the same claim that was the target of the anti-SLAPP
motion?
It is clear that not every motion to dismiss the same claim
that underlies an anti-SLAPP motion is “inextricably inter-
twined” with such motion. We have held, for example, that a
motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction3 is not inex-
tricably intertwined with an anti-SLAPP motion. Batzel, 333
F.3d at 1023. In Zamani v. Carnes, however, we did review
a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal
3
Such motions are typically made pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Pro-
cedure 12(b)(2).
4694 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), which was made as an alter-
native to an anti-SLAPP special motion to strike the same
claim. 491 F.3d 990, 994 (9th Cir. 2007). We did it, however,
without considering whether we had jurisdiction to do it.4
Zamani does not, therefore, compel us to conclude that a
motion to dismiss a substantive claim under Rule 12(b)(6) is
inextricably intertwined with a special motion to strike. See,
e.g., United States v. Booker, 375 F.3d 508, 514 (7th Cir.
2004) (“An assumption is not a holding.”). We must consider
the question for ourselves.
The first type of inextricably intertwined order is one that
“we must [review] . . . in order to review the claims properly
raised on interlocutory appeal.” Batzel, 333 F.3d at 1023
(internal quotation marks omitted). Resolution of a motion to
dismiss for failure to state a claim is not a predicate to resolv-
ing an anti-SLAPP motion. As we illustrate in this very opin-
ion, we can proceed directly to the anti-SLAPP motion
without any interference from a motion to dismiss.
An order may also be inextricably intertwined with an
immediately appealable one if “resolution of the issue prop-
erly raised on interlocutory appeal necessarily resolves the
pendent issue.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). To
determine whether a motion to dismiss (the pendent issue) is
inextricably intertwined with an anti-SLAPP motion to strike
(the issue properly raised) in this sense, we must briefly con-
sider the inquiry associated with an anti-SLAPP motion.
As we discuss infra, an anti-SLAPP motion requires the
court to ask, first, whether the suit arises from the defendant’s
protected conduct and, second, whether the plaintiff has
shown a probability of success on the merits. If the first ques-
tion is answered in the negative, then the motion must fail,
4
The closest thing to an application of the “inextricably intertwined”
doctrine we decided involved a motion for reconsideration of the denial
of the motion to strike or to dismiss. Zamani, 491 F.3d at 994.
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4695
even if the plaintiff stated no cognizable claim. Of course, if
a plaintiff stated no cognizable claim, then the defendant
would be entitled to dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6). Thus, a
Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss may succeed where an anti-
SLAPP motion to strike would not.
The converse is also true. The second stage of the anti-
SLAPP inquiry determines whether “the complaint is both
legally sufficient and supported by a sufficient prima facie
showing of facts to sustain a favorable judgment if the evi-
dence submitted by the plaintiff is credited.” Integrated
Healthcare Holdings, Inc. v. Fitzgibbons, 44 Cal. Rptr. 3d
517, 527 (Ct. App. 2006) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Such test is similar to the one courts make on summary judg-
ment, though not identical. Thus, if a plaintiff has stated a
legal claim but has no facts to support it, a defendant could
prevail on an anti-SLAPP motion, though he would not have
been able to win a motion to dismiss.
[3] The foregoing illustrates that neither the denial nor the
grant of an anti-SLAPP motion “necessarily resolves,” Batzel,
333 F.3d at 1023, a motion to dismiss regarding the same
claim. That is, it is possible for an appellate court to hold that
an anti-SLAPP special motion to strike should be granted or
denied without thereby dictating the result of a motion to dis-
miss the same claim under Rule 12(b)(6). Our cases make
clear that if the properly appealable order can be resolved
without necessarily resolving the pendent order, then the latter
is not “inextricably intertwined” with the former. See id. We
therefore must conclude that we lack jurisdiction to review
that portion of Hallmark’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss
the right of publicity claim because it is not inextricably inter-
twined with any properly appealable order.
III
Having weeded out of this appeal matters over which we
lack jurisdiction, we now address the merits of denial of Hall-
mark’s special motion to strike the anti-SLAPP claim.
4696 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
A
California, like some other states, has a statute designed to
discourage “strategic lawsuits against public participation.”
SLAPPs “masquerade as ordinary lawsuits but are brought to
deter common citizens from exercising their political or legal
rights or to punish them for doing so.” Batzel, 333 F.3d at
1024 (internal quotation marks omitted). As California’s anti-
SLAPP statute explains, the state legislature has found there
to be “a disturbing increase in lawsuits brought primarily to
chill the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom
of speech and petition for redress of grievances.” Cal. Civ.
Proc. Code § 425.16(a). Because “it is in the public interest to
encourage continued participation in matters of public signifi-
cance, and [because] this participation should not be chilled
through abuse of the judicial process,” the anti-SLAPP statute
is to be construed broadly. Id.
Under the statute,
[a] cause of action against a person arising from any
act of that person in furtherance of the person’s right
of petition or free speech under the United States or
California Constitution in connection with a public
issue shall be subject to a special motion to strike,
unless the court determines that the plaintiff has
established that there is a probability that the plain-
tiff will prevail on the claim.
Id. § 425.16(b)(1). The phrase “act . . . in furtherance of the
person’s right of petition or free speech under the United
States or California Constitution in connection with a public
issue” is defined by four specific categories of communica-
tions. Id. § 425.16(e)(1)-(4).5 The relevant one here is the
5
Although subsection (e) uses the word “includes,” its four categories
exhaust the meaning of an act in furtherance of free speech or petitioning
rights. Navellier v. Sletten, 52 P.3d 703, 708 (Cal. 2002).
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4697
fourth, catch-all category: “any other conduct in furtherance
of the exercise of the constitutional right of petition or the
constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public
issue or an issue of public interest.” Id. § 425.16(e)(4).
California courts evaluate a defendant’s anti-SLAPP
motion in two steps. First, the defendant moving to strike
must make “a threshold showing . . . that the act or acts of
which the plaintiff complains were taken ‘in furtherance of
the [defendant’s] right of petition or free speech under the
United States or California Constitution in connection with a
public issue,’ as defined in [subsection (e) of] the statute.”
Equilon Enters., LLC v. Consumer Cause, Inc., 52 P.3d 685,
694 (Cal. 2002) (quoting Cal. Civ. Proc. Code
§ 425.16(b)(1)). Second, “[i]f the court finds that such a
showing has been made, it must then determine whether the
plaintiff has demonstrated a probability of prevailing on the
claim.” Navellier v. Sletten, 52 P.3d 703, 708 (Cal. 2002).
“Put another way, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the com-
plaint is both legally sufficient and supported by a sufficient
prima facie showing of facts to sustain a favorable judgment
if the evidence submitted by the plaintiff is credited.” Wilson
v. Parker, Covert & Chidester, 50 P.3d 733, 739 (Cal. 2002)
(internal quotation marks omitted). “[T]hough the court does
not weigh the credibility or comparative probative strength of
competing evidence, it should grant the motion if, as a matter
of law, the defendant’s evidence supporting the motion
defeats the plaintiff’s attempt to establish evidentiary support
for the claim.” Id.; Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(b)(2).
1
For Hallmark’s anti-SLAPP motion to succeed, it must
make its “threshold showing” at step one: “that the act or acts
of which the plaintiff complains were taken in furtherance of
the [defendant’s] right of petition or free speech under the
United States or California Constitution in connection with a
public issue [or an issue of public interest].” Equilon Enters.,
4698 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
LLC, 52 P.3d at 694 (internal quotation marks omitted); Cal.
Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(e)(4). The exact inquiry at the first
step is somewhat amorphous, but it seems to contain two dis-
tinct components.
a
[4] First, the activity the plaintiff is challenging must have
been conducted “in furtherance” of the exercise of free speech
rights. By its terms, this language includes not merely actual
exercises of free speech rights but also conduct that furthers
such rights. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(e)(4); see also
Navellier, 52 P.3d at 713 (“The [California] [l]egislature did
not intend that in order to invoke the special motion to strike
the defendant must first establish her actions are constitution-
ally protected under the First Amendment as a matter of
law.”).
The California Supreme Court has not drawn the outer lim-
its of activity that furthers the exercise of free speech rights.
It seems to suffice, however, that the defendant’s activity is
communicative, cf. Commonwealth Energy Corp. v. Investor
Data Exch., Inc., 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 390, 393 n.5 (Ct. App.
2003), and some courts do not discuss this part of the inquiry
at all, see, e.g., Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc., 44 Cal.
Rptr. 3d at 522-26 (not discussing whether an email message
was “in furtherance” of free speech rights). Thus, the courts
of California have interpreted this piece of the defendant’s
threshold showing rather loosely. See also Paul for Council
v. Hanyecz, 102 Cal. Rptr. 2d 864, 870-71 (Ct. App. 2001)
(holding that campaign money laundering was in furtherance
of political speech but an invalid exercise of free speech rights
because it was illegal), overruled on other grounds by Equilon
Enters. LLC, 52 P.3d at 694 n.5.
[5] One sensible place to start is to determine whether the
activity in question is “speech” under First Amendment law.
Here, Hallmark’s card certainly evinces “[a]n intent to convey
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4699
a particularized message . . . , and in the surrounding circum-
stances the likelihood was great that the message would be
understood by those who viewed it.”6 Spence v. Washington,
418 U.S. 405, 410-11 (1974) (per curiam) (stating require-
ment for conduct to qualify as “speech” for purposes of the
First Amendment). But compare Tenafly Eruv Ass’n, Inc. v.
Borough of Tenafly, 309 F.3d 144, 158-61 (3d Cir. 2002)
(concluding that Hurley v. Irish-Am. Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual
Group of Boston, 515 U.S. 557 (1995) modified the Spence
standard), with Colacurcio v. City of Kent, 163 F.3d 545, 549
n.1 (9th Cir. 1998) (reiterating the Spence standard without
any gloss from Hurley). Whether or not Hallmark must show
that its card is speech under the Spence test or a modification
thereof, it certainly suffices that Hallmark can make such a
showing.
[6] Thus, Hallmark’s card qualifies as speech and falls
6
We do recognize a wrinkle in this situation. Namely, Hallmark itself
does not intend to convey a message; rather, it sells a stylized, ready-made
message to someone else, who conveys it to the recipient of the card. In
other words, when you open a birthday card, Hallmark has not wished you
a happy birthday. It has simply provided the medium for its customer to
do so. Hilton might have argued that this means Hallmark cannot assert
a statutory defense derived from the First Amendment because its First
Amendment rights are not at issue. But she did not make any such argu-
ment. The closest she came was her contention that the speech at issue is
commercial speech. We reject such contention infra, at 4700 n.7.
We do not, therefore, reach this issue. Although it sounds like a ques-
tion of standing, which is often jurisdictional, it bears closest resemblance
to the rule against third party standing: a party normally cannot raise
claims that belong to a third party. See Massey v. Helman, 196 F.3d 727,
739 (7th Cir. 1999) (listing among the “prudential restrictions” of standing
“the general rule that a litigant must assert his own legal rights and cannot
assert the legal rights of a third party”). But that rule involves prudential
standing, which is not a requirement of jurisdiction. See Allen v. Wright,
468 U.S. 737, 751 (1984) (describing prudential standing as consisting of
“several judicially self-imposed limits on the exercise of federal jurisdic-
tion”). The jurisdictional elements of standing (an injury-in-fact, causa-
tion, and redressability) are unarguably present here.
4700 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
comfortably within the universe of types of communication
that California courts have considered “conduct in furtherance
of” the exercise of free speech rights upon which to base anti-
SLAPP motions to strike.
b
Next, Hallmark must show that the sale of its card was “in
connection with a public issue or an issue of public interest.”
Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(e)(4). Hilton contends that the
card merely appropriates the waitress role she played on “The
Simple Life.” She therefore views this lawsuit as a garden
variety private dispute over who profits from her image.
According to Hilton, the card implicates no issue of public
interest because it involves no issue at all, only a celebrity
who interests many people.7
7
Hilton also argues that the birthday card is commercial speech and that
such speech cannot, as a matter of law, raise a public issue under the anti-
SLAPP statute. See Scott v. Metabolife Int’l, Inc., 9 Cal. Rptr. 3d 242,
253-54 (Ct. App. 2004) (“[A] manufacturer’s advertising of a specific con-
sumer product, on its labels, and to the public, for the purpose of selling
that product [ ] is not an issue of public interest (or a public issue) . . . .”);
Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.17(c).
Regardless of whether the major premise is true, the minor one is false:
Hallmark’s card is not commercial speech. “[T]he ‘core notion of com-
mercial speech’ is that it ‘does no more than propose a commercial trans-
action.’ ” Hoffman v. Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., 255 F.3d 1180, 1184 (9th
Cir. 2001) (quoting Bolger v. Youngs Drug Prods. Corp., 463 U.S. 60, 66
(1983)). As one of our sister circuits has recognized, under this definition,
“commercial speech is best understood as speech that merely advertises a
product or service for business purposes.” Cardtoons, L.C. v. Major
League Baseball Players Ass’n, 95 F.3d 959, 970 (10th Cir. 1996); see
also Hoffman, 255 F.3d at 1185 (citing commercial speech cases, all of
which involved advertising); Rezec v. Sony Pictures Entm’t, Inc., 10 Cal.
Rptr. 3d 333, 337-38 (Ct. App. 2004). Hallmark’s card is not advertising
the product; it is the product. It is sold for a profit, but that does not make
it commercial speech for First Amendment purposes. See Va. State Bd. of
Pharmacy v. Va. Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748, 761
(1976).
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4701
i
Sitting in diversity, we must begin with the pronounce-
ments of the state’s highest court, which bind us. See Ariz.
Elec. Power Coop., Inc v. Berkeley, 59 F.3d 988, 991 (9th Cir.
1995). The California Supreme Court has not clearly estab-
lished what constitutes an issue of public interest, but it has
provided some guidance. First, “[n]othing in the statute itself
categorically excludes any particular type of action from its
operation.” Navellier, 52 P.3d at 711. Indeed, “[t]he anti-
SLAPP statute’s definitional focus is not the form of the
plaintiff’s cause of action but, rather, the defendant’s activity
that gives rise to his or her asserted liability.” Id. (emphasis
omitted). Thus, the particular cause of action Hilton has
brought is irrelevant to our decision. Ordinary commercial
causes of action like breaches of contract, see generally
Navellier, 52 P.3d 703, or indeed misappropriation of public-
ity, can be “strategic lawsuit[s] against public participation”
as much as defamation can be, id. at 706.
Second, the California Supreme Court has “declined to
hold that [the anti-SLAPP statute] does not apply to events
that transpire between private individuals.” Id. at 710 (internal
quotation marks omitted). That neither Hilton nor Hallmark
are public officials, therefore, cannot be dispositive. Further-
more, the court has “explicitly rejected the assertion that the
only activities qualifying for statutory protection are those
which meet the lofty standard of pertaining to the heart of
self-government.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
Thus, the activity of the defendant need not involve questions
of civic concern; social or even low-brow topics may suffice.
The question before us is whether the topic, the issue, can
be a celebrity like Paris Hilton, or whether, as Hilton agues,
it must be the subject of some defined debate.
In interpreting the anti-SLAPP statute, the California
Supreme Court has insisted on its language, including its pre-
4702 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
amble. See Equilon Enters., 52 P.3d at 688 (“When on previ-
ous occasions we have construed the anti-SLAPP statute, we
have done so strictly by its terms . . . .”); id. at 689 n.3 (dis-
cussing the addition of the “broadly construed” language to
the statutory preamble as a correction of prior judicial deci-
sions adopting narrowing constructions); Navellier, 52 P.3d at
711 (rejecting a narrowing construction of the statute because
it “would contravene the Legislature’s express command that
section 425.16 ‘shall be construed broadly’ ” (quoting Cal.
Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(a))); see also Briggs v. Eden Coun-
cil for Hope & Opportunity, 969 P.2d 564, 568-73 (Cal. 1999)
(construing plain language of the statute in light of the pream-
ble).
[7] That preamble declares it to be “in the public interest”
of the state of California “to encourage continued participa-
tion in matters of public significance . . . . To this end, this
section shall be construed broadly.” Cal. Civ. Proc. Code
§ 425.16(a). The California Supreme Court has defined “sig-
nificance” to mean “importance” or “consequence.” Briggs,
969 P.2d at 571-72. Thus, we must construe “public issue or
issue of public interest” in section 425.16(e)(4) broadly in
light of the statute’s stated purpose to encourage participation
in matters of public importance or consequence.
[8] Understood this way, the statute does not appear to
favor a construction limiting the meaning of “issue” to a sub-
ject of a specific debate. However, we need not rest on the
implications of the California Supreme Court and the statute,
which do not definitively answer the question, “because we
have guidance from the [California] Court of Appeals.”
Batlan v. Bledsoe (In re Bledsoe), 569 F.3d 1106, 1110 (9th
Cir. 2009).
ii
[9] The California intermediate appellate courts have
developed multiple tests to determine whether a defendant’s
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4703
activity is in connection with a public issue. One commonly
cited test comes from Rivero v. American Federation of State,
County, & Municipal Employees, 130 Cal. Rptr. 2d 81, 89-90
(Ct. App. 2003) (concluding that the plaintiff’s supervision of
eight individuals was not a matter of public interest, where
people involved had “received no public attention or media
coverage”). There, the Court of Appeal for the First District
surveyed the appellate cases and divined from them three cat-
egories of public issues: (1) statements “concern[ing] a person
or entity in the public eye”; (2) “conduct that could directly
affect a large number of people beyond the direct partici-
pants”; (3) “or a topic of widespread, public interest.” Id. at
89. The Fourth District has followed this approach. See, e.g.,
Commonwealth Energy Corp., 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d at 394-95
(describing Rivero as the first systematic treatment of the
“public issue—public interest aspect of the anti-SLAPP stat-
ute”).
[10] By contrast, Weinberg v. Feisel, a case from the Third
District, articulated a somewhat more restrictive test, designed
to distinguish between issues of “public, rather than merely
private, interest.” 2 Cal. Rptr. 3d 385, 392 (Ct. App. 2003).
First, “public interest” does not equate with mere
curiosity. Second, a matter of public interest should
be something of concern to a substantial number of
people. Thus, a matter of concern to the speaker and
a relatively small, specific audience is not a matter
of public interest. Third, there should be some
degree of closeness between the challenged state-
ments and the asserted public interest; the assertion
of a broad and amorphous public interest is not suffi-
cient. Fourth, the focus of the speaker’s conduct
should be the public interest rather than a mere effort
to gather ammunition for another round of private
controversy. Finally, . . . [a] person cannot turn oth-
erwise private information into a matter of public
4704 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
interest simply by communicating it to a large num-
ber of people.
Id. at 392-93 (internal quotation marks, citations, and alter-
ation omitted).
iii
Although these approaches do not precisely overlap, we
need not decide between them, because Hallmark’s birthday
card satisfies both tests.
Hallmark’s card falls into either the first or third categories
that Rivero outlined: statements “concern[ing] a person or
entity in the public eye”; “or a topic of widespread, public
interest,” 130 Cal. Rptr. 2d at 89, respectively. There is no
dispute that Hilton is a person “in the public eye” and “a topic
of widespread, public interest,” and that she was such well
before this controversy.8 Thus, Hallmark’s card is “in connec-
tion with a public issue or an issue of public interest,” Cal.
Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(e)(4), under Rivero.
Although the application of the Weinberg test presents a
closer call, we conclude it comes to the same result.9 Again,
there is no dispute that Paris Hilton’s career is “something of
concern to a substantial number of people,” Weinberg, 2 Cal.
Rptr. 2d at 392. The connection “between the challenged
statements”—the birthday card—“and the asserted public
interest”—Hilton’s life, image, and catchphrase—is direct. Id.
After all, the card concerns Hilton’s persona. There was no
8
In her papers before the district court, Hilton recognized that she is a
“public figure and a subject of public interest,” with “widespread public
recognition.”
9
One might read Weinberg, a defamation case, as having articulated a
test particular to the defamation cause of action. Because our application
of Weinberg is not decisive here, we do not reach this question, which nei-
ther of the parties raised.
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4705
pre-existing controversy between Hallmark and Hilton, so the
fourth and fifth considerations that the Weinberg court consid-
ered are inapposite. See id. at 392-93.
Weinberg does caution, however, that “ ‘public interest’
does not equate with mere curiosity.” Id. at 392 (citing Time,
Inc. v. Firestone, 424 U.S. 448, 454-55 (1976)). However,
this warning comes in the context of Weinberg’s insistence
that courts apply the anti-SLAPP statute only to public, not to
private matters. Thus, Weinberg elaborated that “a ‘public
controversy’ does not equate with any controversy of interest
to the public.10 For example, a divorce action between the
scion of one of America’s wealthier industrial families and his
Palm Beach society wife may have piqued the public’s inter-
est but was not a public controversy.” Id. at 392 (internal cita-
tions omitted). We read this to mean that a private
controversy, even between famous people, that interests the
public is not enough. Under Weinberg, for the activities of
celebrities to be a public issue, the activities, as well as the
personages involved must be public.
This limitation does not apply here, however. Hallmark’s
card does not concern some personal detail of Hilton’s life
(such as a divorce), it concerns her trademark phrase and her
public persona—the very things that interest people about her.
Thus, Weinberg, too, supports Hallmark’s position that its
card deals with a public issue.
Du Charme v. International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 501 (Ct. App. 2003), is not to the
contrary. Hilton contends that Du Charme requires “some sort
10
On this point Weinberg appears to conflict with Nygård, Inc. v. Uusi-
Kerttula, which concluded that “ ‘an issue of public interest’ . . . is any
issue in which the public is interested.” 72 Cal. Rptr. 3d 210, 220 (Ct.
App. 2008). We need not resolve this conflict, because we conclude that
Hallmark’s card involves a public issue under the more restrictive Wein-
berg test.
4706 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
of ongoing controversy, dispute or discussion which effects
[sic] the public.” This overstates the rule of Du Charme. Such
case held that
in order to satisfy the public issue/issue of public
interest requirement of . . . subdivision (e)(3) and (4)
of the anti-SLAPP statute, in cases where the issue
is not of interest to the public at large, but rather to
a limited, but definable portion of the public (a pri-
vate group, organization, or community), the consti-
tutionally protected activity must, at a minimum,
occur in the context of an ongoing controversy, dis-
pute or discussion . . . .
Id. at 510 (emphasis added).
Subsequent California appellate courts have honored this
clear limitation of Du Charme. See, e.g., Fitzgibbons, 44 Cal.
Rptr. 3d at 524 (“Du Charme contrasted its situation . . . with
matters of widespread public interest . . . .” (internal quotation
marks omitted)). Therefore, Hallmark need not show that its
card commented on any ongoing public controversy to make
the threshold showing under Du Charme because, as she has
acknowledged, Hilton’s privileged lifestyle and her catch-
phrase (“that’s hot”) are matters of widespread public interest.
[11] In short, all of the various approaches that Califor-
nia’s appellate courts have used to define “public issue or an
issue of interest to the public” appear to support the conclu-
sion that Hallmark’s birthday card is indeed in connection
with such an issue. That the card is a commercial product and
Hilton’s lawsuit a dispute over who can profit from her image
does not defeat Hallmark’s ability to make its threshold show-
ing. We therefore conclude that Hallmark has shown that Hil-
ton’s suit for misappropriation of publicity arises from
“conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional
right of . . . free speech in connection with a public issue or
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4707
an issue of public interest.” Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(a),
(e)(4).
B
Hallmark, however, has only passed the threshold. “[T]he
statute does not bar a plaintiff from litigating an action that
arises out of the defendant’s free speech or petitioning; it sub-
jects to potential dismissal only those actions in which the
plaintiff cannot state and substantiate a legally sufficient
claim.” Navellier, 52 P.3d at 711 (internal citations, quotation
marks, and alternations omitted). At this second step of the
anti-SLAPP inquiry, the required probability that Hilton will
prevail need not be high. The California Supreme Court has
sometimes suggested that suits subject to being stricken at
step two are those that “lack[ ] even minimal merit.” Id. at
708.
Hilton’s claim is for misappropriation of the common law
right of publicity. See generally Eastwood v. Superior Court,
198 Cal. Rptr. 342 (Ct. App. 1983), superseded by statute,
Cal. Civ. Code § 3344, as recognized in KNB Enters. v. Mat-
thews, 92 Cal. Rptr. 2d 713, 717 n.5 (Ct. App. 2000). The ele-
ments of the claim under California law are “(1) the
defendant’s use of the plaintiff’s identity; (2) the appropria-
tion of plaintiff’s name or likeness to defendant’s advantage,
commercially or otherwise; (3) lack of consent; and (4) result-
ing injury.” Downing v. Abercrombie & Fitch, 265 F.3d 994,
1001 (9th Cir. 2001) (internal quotation marks omitted). Hall-
mark has not disputed that Hilton can meet these elements.
Instead, Hallmark claims two affirmative defenses under Cali-
fornia law, both based on the First Amendment: the “transfor-
mative use” defense and the “public interest” defense.11 We
discuss each in turn.
11
We take no position on whether there is a First Amendment defense
to misappropriation of the right of publicity that is distinct from the
defense the California Supreme Court has articulated. We address only
defenses that Hallmark raised, and leave for another day the question of
whether the First Amendment furnishes a defense to misappropriation of
publicity that is broader than the transformative use or public interest
defenses.
4708 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
1
[12] Under California law, “when an artist is faced with a
right of publicity challenge to his or her work, he or she may
raise as [an] affirmative defense that the work is protected by
the First Amendment inasmuch as it contains significant
transformative elements or that the value of the work does not
derive primarily from the celebrity’s fame.” Comedy III
Prods., Inc. v. Gary Saderup, Inc., 21 P.3d 797, 810 (Cal.
2001). This “transformative use” defense poses “what is
essentially a balancing test between the First Amendment and
the right of publicity.” Winter v. DC Comics, 69 P.3d 473,
475 (Cal. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). “It contin-
ues to shield celebrities from literal depictions or imitations
for commercial gain by works which do not add significant
new expression.” Kirby v. Sega of Am., Inc., 50 Cal. Rptr. 3d
607, 615 (Ct. App. 2006).
The application of the defense, which the California
Supreme Court based loosely on the intersection of the First
Amendment and copyright liability,12 depends upon “whether
the celebrity likeness is one of the ‘raw materials’ from which
an original work is synthesized, or whether the depiction or
imitation of the celebrity is the very sum and substance of the
work in question.” Comedy III, 21 P.3d at 809. In other
words, “[w]e ask . . . whether a product containing a celebri-
ty’s likeness is so transformed that it has become primarily
the defendant’s own expression rather than the celebrity’s
likeness. And when we use the word ‘expression,’ we mean
expression of something other than the likeness of the celebri-
ty.” Id. “[U]nder [this] test,” yet another formulation cautions,
“when an artist’s skill and talent is manifestly subordinated to
the overall goal of creating a conventional portrait of a celeb-
rity so as to commercially exploit his or her fame, then the
12
The cousinage between copyright liability and the right to publicity
has long been recognized. See, e.g., Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broad.
Co., 433 U.S. 562, 573 (1977).
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4709
artist’s right of free expression is outweighed by the right of
publicity.” Id. at 810.
a
The potential reach of the transformative use defense is
broad. The form of the expression to which it applies “[is] not
confined to parody and can take many forms,” including “fic-
tionalized portrayal . . . heavy-handed lampooning . . . [and]
subtle social criticism.” Id. at 809 (citations omitted). Nor
should courts “be concerned with the quality of the artistic
contribution—vulgar forms of expression fully qualify for
First Amendment protection.” Id. It is thus irrelevant whether
Hallmark’s card qualifies as parody13 or high-brow art. Nor
does it matter that Hallmark sought to profit from the card;
the only question is whether the card is transformative. Cf.
Winter, 69 P.3d at 479 (“The question is whether the work is
transformative, not how it is marketed.”).
[13] We think it clear that Hallmark may raise the transfor-
mative use defense. The applicability of the defense, however,
does not preclude Hilton from showing the “minimal merit”
needed to defeat Hallmark’s motion to strike.14 Only if Hall-
13
To be sure, the transformative use defense has its origins in copyright
law, which recognizes that “parody has an obvious claim to transformative
value” and can therefore constitute fair use. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose
Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 579 (1994). However, parody is not “presump-
tively fair” and must be judged on a “case by case” basis. Id. at 581. For
example, if the “alleged infringer merely uses [the copied work] to get
attention or to avoid the drudgery in working up something fresh, the
claim to fairness in borrowing from another’s work diminishes accord-
ingly (if it does not vanish).” Id. For our purposes, however, “[w]hat mat-
ters is whether the work is transformative, not whether it is parody or
satire or caricature or serious social commentary or any other specific
form of expression.” Winter, 69 P.3d at 472. We thus decline Hallmark’s
invitation to label its card a parody and to deem it transformative on that
basis alone.
14
Thus, we conceptualize the inquiry into two parts: whether the trans-
formative use defense is available at all and whether, if it is, no trier of
fact could reasonably conclude that the card was not transformative.
4710 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
mark is entitled to the defense as a matter of law can it prevail
on its motion to strike. In this context, we note that Comedy
III envisioned the application of the defense as a question of
fact. See 21 P.3d at 811 (“Although the distinction between
protected and unprotected expression will sometimes be sub-
tle, it is no more so than other distinctions triers of fact are
called on to make in First Amendment jurisprudence.”
(emphasis added)). Thus, Hallmark is only entitled to the
defense as a matter of law if no trier of fact could reasonably
conclude that the card was not transformative.
b
[14] Case law provides several useful data points for such
inquiry. In Comedy III, the California Supreme Court held
that “literal, conventional depictions of the Three Stooges,”
drawn in charcoal and sold on t-shirts, make “no significant
transformative or creative contribution.” 21 P.3d at 811. Thus
it is clear that merely merchandising a celebrity’s image with-
out that person’s consent, the prevention of which is the core
of the right of publicity, does not amount to a transformative
use.
Winter furnishes a counter example. There, the California
Supreme Court held that the publisher of a comic book was
entitled to summary judgment on the grounds of the transfor-
mative use defense. The cover of the comic book showed car-
toon figures based on two musicians (Johnny and Edgar
Winter) that were “distorted for purposes of lampoon, parody,
or caricature” and drawn as “half-human and half worm
[characters] in a larger story.” 69 F.3d at 479. The court held
the cartoon characters were sufficiently transformative to
defeat a right of publicity action brought by the entirely
human persons on which they were based. Id.
Falling somewhere in between these two ends of the spec-
trum is Kirby, in which the California Court of Appeal
granted summary judgment to a video-game distributor on the
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4711
transformative use defense. Although the video-game charac-
ter in question, “Ulala,” was certainly “reminiscent” of the
singer Kirby (aka “Lady Miss Kier”) in terms of facial fea-
tures, personal style, and catchphrases, the court noted that
there were significant differences in their physiques, typical
hairstyles and costumes, and dance moves. 50 Cal. Rptr. at
613, 616. Moreover, the fact that “the setting for the game
that features Ulala—a space-age reporter in the 25th centu-
ry—unlike any public depiction of Kirby” led the court to
conclude that Ulala was more of a “fanciful, creative charac-
ter” than an “imitative character” Id. at 616, 618 (internal
quotation marks omitted).
c
Hilton’s basic contention is that Hallmark lifted the entire
scene on the card from the “Simple Life” episode, “Sonic
Burger Shenanigans.” The conceit behind the program was to
place Hilton and her friend Nicole Ritchie into the life of an
average person, including working for a living. In the episode,
the women work at a drive-through fast-food restaurant. They
cruise up to customers’ cars on roller skates and serve them
their orders. True to form, Hilton occasionally remarks that a
person, thing, or event is “hot.”
Hallmark’s card, Hilton claims, is a rip-off of this episode.
Hallmark maintains that its card is transformative because the
setting is different and the phrase, “that’s hot,” has become a
literal warning about the temperature of a plate food.
To be sure, there are some differences between the wait-
ressing Hilton does in the “Simple Life” episode and the por-
trayal in Hallmark’s card. Hilton’s uniform is different, the
style of the restaurant is different (drive-through service rather
than sit-down service), and the food is different (burgers-and-
fries rather than diner-style bacon and eggs). In the card, the
body underneath Hilton’s over-sized head is a cartoon draw-
ing of a generic female body rather than a picture of Hilton’s
4712 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
real body. Finally, Hilton’s catchphrase appears consistently
in its familiar, idiomatic meaning. Despite these differences,
however, the basic setting is the same: we see Paris Hilton,
born to privilege, working as a waitress.
[15] When we compare Hallmark’s card to the video game
in Kirby, which transported a 1990s singer (catchphrases and
all) into the 25th century and transmogrified her into a space-
age reporter, we conclude that the card falls far short of the
level of new expression added in the video game. While a
work need not be phantasmagoric as in Winter or fanciful as
in Kirby in order to be transformative, there is enough doubt
as to whether Hallmark’s card is transformative under our
case law that we cannot say Hallmark is entitled to the
defense as a matter of law.
d
Hoffman v. Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., 255 F.3d 1180 (9th
Cir. 2001), does not compel a contrary conclusion. Such case
involved a magazine feature containing a digitally altered ver-
sion of the famous image of Dustin Hoffman, dressed in drag,
from the movie “Tootsie,” with Hoffman’s body substituted
for that of a male model and the original dress substituted for
a dress in fashion at the time. Id. at 1183. Hoffman sued the
publisher for, among other things, misappropriation of his
right of publicity. Id. The district court ruled in his favor after
a bench trial. Id. We reversed on grounds having nothing to
do with the transformative use defense, though we discussed
the defense in a footnote. Id. at 1184 n.2.
Our case is distinguishable from Hoffman. Although both
Hoffman and Hilton pursued misappropriation of publicity
claims against their respective defendants for placing a photo-
graph of their heads on a different body, the defendants in
each case asserted different defenses and, therefore, attempted
to establish different facts. The defendant in Hoffman did not
assert an affirmative defense of transformative use, but simply
HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS 4713
a more general First Amendment defense. To defeat that
defense, Hoffman attempted to establish that the defendant
acted with “actual malice” and therefore was not entitled to
First Amendment protections. Here, however, Hallmark
asserts an affirmative defense of transformative use against
Hilton’s right of publicity claim, thus bringing the work under
First Amendment protections. Furthermore, to the extent that
Hoffman discussed the transformative use defense, the passing
footnote was dictum and not central to the ultimate holding in
the case.15 We therefore reject Hallmark’s argument that it is
entitled to the transformative use defense as a matter of law.
2
We turn to Hallmark’s last redoubt: the “public interest”
defense.
Under California law, “no cause of action will lie for the
publication of matters in the public interest, which rests on the
right of the public to know and the freedom of the press to tell
it.” Montana v. San Jose Mercury News, Inc., 40 Cal. Rptr. 2d
639, 640 (Ct. App. 1995) (internal quotation marks and alter-
ations omitted). “Public interest attaches to people who by
their accomplishments or mode of living create a bona fide
attention to their activities.” Dora v. Frontline Video, Inc., 18
Cal. Rptr. 2d 790, 792 (Ct. App. 1993).
15
It appears that we did not consider the application of the transforma-
tive use defense in Hoffman in any depth because the parties had not
raised it before the trial court, and the defense was little more than a last-
minute, minor part of their litigating positions on appeal. The California
Supreme Court had handed down Comedy III, which first established the
defense, between oral argument and our decision. It came to our attention
only by means of post-argument letters that the parties submitted pursuant
to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(j). We are therefore convinced
that our “earlier panel did not make a deliberate decision to adopt the rule
of law it announced,” and that Hoffman does not control. See United States
v. Johnson, 256 F.3d 895, 915 (9th Cir. 2001) (en banc) (Kozinski, J., con-
curring).
4714 HILTON v. HALLMARK CARDS
This defense does not help Hallmark, however, because, by
its terms, it only precludes liability for “the publication of
matters in the public interest.” Montana, 40 Cal. Rptr. 2d at
640 (internal quotation marks omitted). The case that estab-
lished the defense explicitly linked it to the publication of
newsworthy items. See Eastwood, 198 Cal. Rptr. at 349-50
(“The scope of the privilege extends to almost all reporting of
recent events even though it involves the publication of a
purely private person’s name or likeness.” (emphasis added)).
Later opinions confirm the impression that it is about such
publication or reporting. See Montana, 40 Cal. Rptr. 2d at
640-42 (allowing the defense for a newspaper’s commemora-
tive posters of the Super Bowl victories of the San Francisco
49’ers); Dora, 18 Cal. Rptr. 2d at 792-94 (allowing the
defense for a documentary about surf culture).
[16] We must conclude that Hallmark cannot employ the
“public interest” defense because its birthday card does not
publish or report information.
IV
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the denial of Hall-
mark’s motion to strike pursuant to California’s anti-SLAPP
statute, but DISMISS the appeal of the denial of Hallmark’s
motion to dismiss the misappropriation of publicity claim and
the Lanham Act claim for lack of appellate jurisdiction. We
REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opin-
ion. The parties shall bear their own costs on appeal.