self plagiarism

From: <CNICOPY[_at_]charlie.usd.edu>
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1993 15:08:50 -0500 (CDT)

The case that I could not remember where a musician wrote a song, assigned the copyright to someone else and then got sued for infringement of his own work when he wrote a later song is actually a series of opinions in the case of Fantasy Inc. v. John Fogerty. John Fogerty wrote "Run through the Jungle" and assigned the copyright to a corporation. He later wrote "The Old Man Down the Road." The sucessors of the corporation Fogerty originally assigned the copyright in "Jungle" to sued him for infringement.

At the present time Fogerty seems to have won the case, but all appeals may not be done.

What is important about this case for the self plagiarism thread is that the court never questions that an author can be sued for infringment if he reuses his expression after he assigns the copyright in it to someone else. So if you tend to slightly rewrite your words on the same or similar subjects for different audiences and occasions, you might be well advised to hang onto your copyrights.

Mary Brandt Jensen       		CNICOPY[_at_]CHARLIE.USD.EDU
Professor of Law                        (605) 677 6363
University of South Dakota              (605) 677 6357 fax

School of Law
414 E. Clark St.
Vermillion, SD 57069-2390 Received on Thu Sep 23 1993 - 20:07:27 GMT