''Stewart v. Abend'', 495 U.S. 207 (1990), was a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision holding that a successor
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
owner (one who obtains ownership later on, such as the heirs of a copyright owner who dies) has the exclusive right to permit the creation and exploitation of
derivative work
In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in ...
s, regardless of potentially conflicting agreements by prior copyright holders.
[.]
Facts
Cornell Woolrich
Cornell George Hopley Woolrich ( ; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley.
His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich th ...
originally wrote the short story "It Had to Be Murder", and sold the publication rights to
Popular Publications, Inc., which published the story in its ''Dime Detective Magazine'' (February 1942 issue). Three years later, Woolrich sold the movie rights to a
production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...
, and agreed by contract to renew those rights when the 28-year copyright (then in force) expired. In 1953 the movie rights were bought for $10,000 by Patron Inc., a production company formed by actor
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
and director
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
. The short story was then made into the acclaimed movie ''
Rear Window
''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...
'' (
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
), directed by Hitchcock and starring Stewart.
Woolrich died in 1968, before the expiration of his 28-year copyright, and control of the literary rights passed to his executor,
Chase Manhattan Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fi ...
. Chase sold the movie rights for $650 to literary agent Sheldon Abend. Abend refused to honor Woolrich's original agreement to renew the copyright and assign it to the owner of the movie rights, and instead sued Stewart when the movie was shown on television.
Opinion of the Court
The question presented was whether the owner of a legal derivative work infringes the rights of the successor copyright owner, by continued distribution and publication of the derivative work during the renewal term of the pre-existing work. The Court held that the assignment was an unfulfilled contingency that died with the author; the successor can prevent continued use of the derivative work.
In justifying its decision, the Court noted that control of the work reverts to the author—or author’s successors—when renewal comes up. This protects the author (and the heirs) from being deprived of the surprising value of the work.
See also
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List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 495
This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 495 of the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ...
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List of United States Supreme Court cases
This page serves as an index of lists of United States Supreme Court cases. The United States Supreme Court is the highest federal court of the United States.
By Chief Justice
Court historians and other legal scholars consider each Chief J ...
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Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
The following is a complete list of cases decided by the United States Supreme Court organized by volume of the ''United States Reports'' in which they appear. This is a list of volumes of ''U.S. Reports'', and the links point to the contents of e ...
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References
External links
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{{USArticleI
United States copyright case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court
1990 in United States case law