Re: Re: Termination right

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005, Joseph Pietro Riolo wrote:

> We will never know how that section will play out until the year 2013.

There are already lawsuits in play over termination rights, well before 2013, for a couple of reasons.

First, while 2013 is the first year under which a grant can be terminated under section 203, there's another termination right in section 304(c) (and 304(d), for that matter). The 203 right is applicable only to grants made 1978 or later, and generally allows for termination 35 years after the grant; that's where 2013 comes from: 1978+35=2013. But the 304(c) right is applicable to grants made prior to 1978, and kicks in at copyright+56. There have already been litigation under this termination right, most notably the Siegel family's termination of Jerry Siegel's assignment of his rights in "Superman," and an assignment of "Captain America" to Marvel Comics. I think Winnie-the-Pooh was subject to a termination lawsuit, too, but dimly recall Disney got that dismissed based on pre-trial discovery issues, although I can't turn up anything to confirm that.

Second, although 2013 is the first year for termination under section 203, termination requires a notice of between 2 and 10 years, i.e. as early as 2003.

in fact, you don't even have to have a section 203 termination to have a section 203 termination case! In the 11th Circuit, Korman v. HBC Florida, the copyright owner there was attempting to terminate a non-exclusive implied license on the general principle that such licenses are terminable at will by the licensee. The defendant argued that, after the enactment of the 1976 Copyright Act, post-1978 licenses could *only* be terminated under section 203, i.e., after 35 years, and that the standard law that licenses are generally revocable did not apply. The defendant lost that one.

> We probably will see some court cases covering the disputes between
> authors and entities that have contracts with them.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Superman case, in particular, generate some interesting termination law. Received on Fri Jul 01 2005 - 02:15:01 GMT