Robert W. Woods, Cooper, Epstein & Hurewitz, Beverly Hills, Cal., for defendants-appellants.
Gerald B. Weiner, Fischbach & Fischbach, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Isaac M. Pachulski, Stutman, Treister & Glatt, Los Angeles, Cal., for amicus curiae.
Before GOODWIN and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and CROCKER[* 1], District Judge.
GOODWIN, Cireuit Judge.
Emmylou Harris, a singer, recovered a money judgment and injunctive relief against the defendants for infringing her copyrights in certain songs. Defendants appeal.
In 1968, Harris entered into a written agreement with Jay-Gee Record Company in which she agreed to record songs in exchange for royalties equalling 3% of the net retail list price of each record sold. Pursuant to the agreement, she recorded six songs which were released by Jay-Gee on an album entitled Gliding Bird.
Five of the songs were written and composed by Harris. The copyrights to each of these compositions were held in the names of Hannah Brown Music (a company wholly owned by Harris), Nanshel Music and Jubilant Music. In 1969, all three companies issued mechanical licenses to Jay-Gee. Under the 1909 Copyright Act then in force,[1] such licenses are necessary to enable one to duplicate a musical composition copyrighted by another.
The sixth song, entitled “Gliding Bird,” was composed by Tommy Slocum. The copyright originally was incorrectly registered in the name of Hannah Brown Music. On September 19, 1969, Hannah Brown assigned it to Nanshel Music and the assignment was recorded in the Copyright Office. On the same day, Slocum wrote to Nanshel setting forth an understanding which provided in part “I have written and composed the musical composition ‘GLIDING BIRD’
- ↑ *The Honorable M.D. Crocker, Senior United States District Judge for the Eastern District of California, sitting by designation.
- ↑ Section 1(e) of the 1909 Act reserves to the copyright holder the right “to make any arrangement or setting [of a copyrighted musical composition] or of the melody of it in any system of notation or any form of record in which the thought of an author may be recorded and from which it may be read or reproduced…” for the purposes of copying or vending the copyrighted work. Copyright Act 1909, codified at 17 U.S.C. §§ 1–216 (1976), hereinafter referred to as the 1909 Act. It has been superseded by the Copyright Act of 1976, Pub.L. No. 94–553, 90 Stat. 2541, codified at 17 U.S.C. §§ 101–810 (Supp. V 1981) which became effective January 1, 1978, and is hereinafter referred to as the 1976 Act. Licenses to duplicate the sound recording are generally termed “mechanical licenses.”
