ROSS W. GREENE, Plaintiff, Appellant, Cross-Appellee, THE CENTER FOR COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING, INC., Plaintiff, v. J. STUART ABLON, Defendant, Appellee, Cross-Appellant, GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION, a/k/a Massachusetts General Hospital, Defendant, Appellee., 794 F.3d 133

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-Under Massachusetts law, an employer owned trademarks derived from the work of a former employee pursuant to an intellectual property policy incorporated by reference into the parties' employment contracts, which the employee could not avoid on grounds of equitable estoppel, failure to reach a meeting of the minds, or unilateral mistake; [2]-A book written by two authors was a joint work under 17 U.S.C.S. §§ 101, 201(a) and could also be a derivative work under 17 U.S.C.S. § 103(b); [3]-An erroneous ruling that the book could not be both joint and derivative was harmless error absent a Fed. R. Evid. 103(a)(2) offer of proof regarding derivative material; [4]-Absent evidence of profits, an accounting was properly denied; [5]-Denying injunctive relief under 17 U.S.C.S. § 502(a) was reasonable because the jury found only minimal infringement, which was unlikely to continue.