Re: Copyright of Choreography

On 5/6/97, Tyler T. Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
>
> On May 2, 1997, John Kasdan <kasdan[_at_]columbia.edu> wrote (in part):
> >
> > Do people who register choreographic works normally consider them as
> > derivative works. (Specifically, do they list the music in part 6a of
> > Form PA?) Also, has there been any litigation on this issue? A few
> > years back Eliot Feld prepared a ballet and only a few weeks before
> > the scheduled premier he finally learned that he could _not_ get the
> > performance rights to the music. What he did was to deliver a very
> > funny monologue on the failed negotiations and then his company
> > performed the piece without music. Obviously he thought that he was
> > not breaking any laws thereby and the owner of the music copyright,
> > as near as I know, did not sue on a "derivative work" theory.
>
> Interesting question. The House Report states that "to constitute
> a violation of section 106(2) [right to prepare derivative works], the
> infringing work must incorporate a portion of the copyrighted work in
> some form; for example, a detailed commentary on a work or a
> programmatic musical composition inspired by a novel would not
> normally constitute infringements under this clause."
>
> If a musical work inspired by a novel is not a derivative work,
> then why should choreography inspired by a piece of music be a
> derivative work? I don't think it should, unless and until it is
> reproduced, performed publicly or distributed together with the music.
> So, it seems to me that Mr. Feld was within his rights to perform the
> choreography without the music. [Reminds me of a scene in the movie
> Amadeus.] I might have to consider further if the music had lyrics
> that described a particular story.
>
> I am aware of one case that would support this position. In EC
> Publications v. Berlin, the court held that parody lyrics to an Irving
> Berlin song published in Mad Magazine did not infringe the composer's
> copyright. In the course of the opinion, I believe the court held (or
> at least stated in dicta) that the meter of the lyrics could not itself
> be copyrighted. So if the meter underlying the lyrics cannot be
> copyrighted, then perhaps the silent "meter" underlying a musical
> composition cannot be copyrighted either.

I did some research on dance and copyright several years ago.

I think Tyler's point about derivitive works covers the relationship between the choreographed dance and music to which is choreographed.

There have been some interesting cases regarding copyright and choreography. I could dust off the old papers if anyone is interested.

/Greg

Greg Elin
<elin[_at_]interport.net> Received on Fri May 09 1997 - 01:51:10 GMT