Disney Enterprises, Inc. v. Vyong Tran

The moving party must establish a valid claim of copyright infringement and the Court must find that the infringer's conduct could not be attributed to excusable neglect before an entry of default judgment in a copyright matter can be granted.

Opinion (Conti): Disney and other similarly situated companies ("Disney") filed suit against Joey Nguyen ("Nguyen") for copyright infringement, and moved for default judgment. Nguyen owned a business that mainly sold and rented inflatable play areas for children's parties and accessories, almost all featuring Disney’s copyrights and trademark designs. Disney had not granted any license or authorization to Nguyen for use of the designs. Because Nguyen was served and had not responded to any summons, Disney filed a motion for default judgment. In an action for default judgment, the Court looked to the Eitel factors to determine if default judgment is appropriate. Because the Court found that Disney stated a valid claim of copyright infringement and that Nguyen’s conduct could not be attributed to excusable neglect, the court concluded that default judgment was appropriate in this case. Therefore, Plaintiffs' motion for default judgment was GRANTED.