KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) - Robin Carnahan's Senate campaign claims Fox News' copyright infringement lawsuit should be dismissed because the station did not copyright the clip at issue until after it had sued. Fox claims Carnahan used clips of its anchor Chris Wallace interviewing her opponent, Republican Roy Blunt, without permission, leaving the impression that the network and Wallace were endorsing Carnahan.
Fox sued Carnahan's campaign in September.
In its motion to dismiss, Carnahan's campaign says a Certificate of Registration from the U.S. Copyright Office lists the effective date of the copyright as Sept. 20 - 5 days after Fox filed its complaint.
"Because the Fox Network commenced its copyright claim prematurely, the Court cannot grant the Fox Network relief on its copyright infringement claim and must therefore dismiss this claim," Carnahan's motion states. "If this filing precondition problem is not resolved, the validity of this lawsuit and any rulings made herein may be questioned."
The motion also suggests that the case may have also become moot.
"The Carnahan Campaign has finished running, and thus ceased, television broadcasting of the advertisement in question, and if the case proceeds, it could place the court and parties in the unusual situation of litigating a lawsuit never properly initiated as to broadcasts of a political advertisement that have already terminated," the motion states.
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