A federal judge tossed out Donald Trump‘s lawsuit against Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster and Paramount Global over the legendary investigative journalist’s use of his recordings of interviews with the president for an audiobook.
In his 2023 lawsuit, Trump had claimed that he had a copyright and contract interest in the audio recordings, interviews which were initially used in Woodward’s book Rage, a bombshell that was published in 2020. The audiobook, The Trump Tapes, was released in 2022.
U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe ruled, among other things, that Trump’s legal claim does not “plausibly allege” that he was the joint author of The Trump Tapes or has a copyright interest in them. Trump had claimed that even though he played no role in coming up with the questions, he had a copyright interest in the responses, the judge noted.
The judge wrote that “The Supreme Court has instructed, under the Copyright Act, ‘the author is the party who actually creates the work, that is, the person who translates an idea into a fixed, tangible expression entitled to copyright protection.’”
Trump had cited a Feb. 28, 2023 copyright registration he obtained, where he was designated as the joint author with Woodward. But the judge wrote that “while copyright registration may constitute prema facie evidence of ownership, where there are conflicting and adverse copyright registrations, the Copyright Office does not resolve the competing claims, and courts are called upon to make ‘an independent determination of copyright ownership.” Woodward and Simon & Schuster had a copyright registration from Feb. 23, 2023.
The judge will allow Trump to amend his complaint, with a deadline of Aug. 18. But he wrote that he found it “unlikely” that Trump would be able to plead a “plausible” copyright interest in The Trump Tapes.
Paramount Global sold Simon & Schuster to KKR in 2023, but the company remained a defendant in the case.
Trump went on to sue Paramount Global shortly before the 2024 election, over the way that CBS News’ 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris. Paramount Global reached a $16 million settlement with Trump earlier this month, even though its attorneys had previously called the president’s lawsuit without merit. The company is seeking Trump administration approval of its merger with Skydance.
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