DAVID D. WOODS, FLORENCE L. WOODS, KRISTINE WOODS and BENJAMIN WOODS, d/b/a CALLICOON MUSIC, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. BOURNE CO., Defendant-Appellant, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS and PUBLISHERS, Defendant., 60 F.3d 978

Summary

Conflicting claims were made to royalties generated by various uses of a popular song during an extended renewal term. Both parties claimed the right to receive royalties generated during this period. Plaintiffs claimed that they were entitled to royalties because they had exercised their statutory right to terminate defendant's interest in the song under 17 U.S.C.S. § 304(c). The court held that defendant was entitled to royalties from performances of movies and television programs for which use of the song was licensed by defendant before extended renewal term. Because the district court did not err in finding no arrangement of the song in the record (with one minor exception) sufficiently original to be called a derivative work, the judgment of the district court was affirmed in most other respects.