Re: 204 and copyright license

On Fri, Aug 27, 1999, John Noble <jnoble[_at_]dgsys.com> wrote:
>
> Radio Television Espanola S.A. v. New World Entertainment, Ltd.,
> No. 97-56418 (9th Cir., July 16, 1999) upholds a district court
> grant of summary judgment in a case claiming breach of an alleged
> exclusive license to broadcast certain programs. The Ninth Circuit
> agrees that fax documents and internal memoranda do not satisfy
> the writing requirement of sec. 204(a).
>
> I had thought it was clear that 204(a) applied to copyright transfers
> and assignments but not to license agreements. Am I wrong, or is the
> Ninth Circuit a bottle short of a six-pack.

Section 204(a) applies to a "transfer of copyright ownership." Section 101 defines a "transfer of copyright ownership" as including an exclusive license. The Ninth Circuit held in Radio Television Espanola that the faxes and other memoranda offered as evidence of a purported exclusive license did not constitute the "note or memorandum of the transfer" which is one way to satisfy Section 204(a)'s requirement of a writing to validate a copyright transfer. Section 204(a) doesn't apply to _non_exclusive licenses because these are expressly excluded from the Section 101 definition of a transfer.

Bill Grantham, Attorney-at law
Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman, LLP
9601 Wilshire Boulevard, 4th floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90210, USA
Tel: (310) 246-3266
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http://rmslaw.com/attorneys/grantham.htm mailto:billgra[_at_]rmslaw.com