Substantive Law Support

Intellectual Property Law

Chapter 13 Discussion Answers

1. Alex Holland wrote a screenplay that he assigned to Paramount Pictures. When a
copyright application is filed, who will be identified as the author, and who will
be identified as the claimant?
Alex Holland is the author, and Paramount Pictures is the claimant
(unless Alex prepared the work as a work for hire for Paramount, in
which case Paramount will be identified as both the author and the
claimant).

2. Identify the proper deposit materials for the following published works:

a. A textbook
two copies of the book

b. A large painting
two copies of a photograph of the painting

c. A movie
one copy of the movie

3. Liam intends to sue Abby for copyright infringement of his book Eastern
Vampires. Liam’s book is not yet registered. What should Liam do so that he can
initiate an infringement action in federal court?
Liam should seek to register his work and seek special handling. He
will need to pay an additional fee for the expedited service of special
handling, but if he does, a registration will likely issue within five
business days, thus allowing Liam to file his action for infringement
in federal court.

4. A copyright registration referred to the author of a sound recording as Katherine
Keene. The author’s name is actually Katherine Keane. Should anything be done
to correct this error? Discuss.
The copyright owner should file form CA, which is a supplementary
copyright registration, which will correct the error. This is more
than a mere typographical error because it affects how the work will
be indexed and searched. Unless the error is corrected, one
searching for works by Ms. Keane will not locate the sound
recording (because it will be indexed under the name Keene).

5. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. is concerned that its upcoming movie in its
Wolverine series will be leaked over the Internet before its actual theatrical
release. Is there anything that the film company can do? Discuss.
The film company should seek preregistration of this work.
Preregistration is used for works that are often illegally distributed
over the Internet before they are released for sale to the public. A
preregistration allows the owner to sue for infringement while a
work is still being prepared for commercial release and obtain an
injunction to stop the threatened or actual infringement and obtain
statutory damages and attorney’s fees.

6. What does it mean to say that the Copyright Office has issued a copyright
registration under its “rule of doubt”?
The Copyright Office will issue a registration under its rule of doubt
when it has concerns about the copyrightability of a work (perhaps
the Copyright Office is concerned that the work lacks originality). If
there is later a dispute over the work, a court will be the ultimate
arbiter as to whether the work is subject to copyright protection.

7. Draft proper copyright notices for the following:

b. A sound recording of a 2009 song owned by Sony Music Entertainment
the letter “P” placed inside a circle, the year of first
publication, and the owner’s name (Sony Music
Entertainment)

c. A music video performed by Beyoncé in 2013
© 2013 Beyoncé (or perhaps use the artist’s full name, Beyoncé
Knowles)
(again, one may use the word “Copyright” or “Copr.”)

8. The author of two books, one published in 1974 and one published in 2014, has
not used copyright notices on the books. Discuss the effect of the lack of
copyright notices.

There is no effect for failing to include a notice on the book published
in 2014. Use of a copyright notice for works published after March 1,
1989, is optional (although the lack of notice may allow a defendant to
reduce damages by alleging it had no notice of copyright and thus was
an innocent infringer).

If a work was published before January 1, 1978, without a copyright
notice, all copyright protection for that work was permanently lost in
the United States. Thus, the book published in 1974 is now in the
public domain and is free for anyone to use.