third party claims against McMullan; it moved for summary judgment as to, inter alia, the validity of its renewal copyright in The Urantia Book. The district court denied its motion, and the case proceeded to trial before a jury. At the close of evidence, the parties moved for judgment as a matter of law. The district court denied all such motions, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of Michael Foundation and McMullan. Urantia Foundation renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b); it moved in the alternative for a new trial, asserting that the district court abused its discretion in excluding certain testimony. The district court denied both motions, and Urantia Foundation brought this appeal.
II. Discussion
- A. The District Court’s Denial of Urantia Foundation’s Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law
- 1. Classification of Works for Copyright Purposes
Urantia Foundation first registered its copyright in The Urantia Book in 1966. The continued validity of its copyright depends upon whether it effectively renewed that copyright in 1983. Under the governing renewal provisions, as a general rule, only the author or the author’s heirs could renew the copyright in a literary work at the expiration of the initial term, regardless of whether the author had conveyed those rights for the duration of the initial term. 17 U.S.C. § 304(a)(1)(C).[1] The parties agree that neither the Conduit nor his heirs renewed the copyright in The Urantia Book. Urantia Foundation advances two theories to support its claim that it holds valid renewal rights in The Urantia Book under exceptions to the general rule: first, that The Urantia Book is a composite of discrete, individual works by the Conduit, rather than a unified work, and that Urantia Foundation, as proprietor of the copyright in that composite,[2] was entitled to renew the copyright in both the compilation and in the underlying works; and second, that The Urantia Book is a commissioned work because Urantia Foundation’s predecessor in interest specially commissioned the Conduit to write The Urantia Book, entitling Urantia Foundation to renew its copyright as The Urantia Book’s “author” under a judicially created corollary to a statutory exception governing works created for hire.[3] We consider each theory in turn.
Under the governing statute, if The Urantia Book is classified as a unified work by a single author, then Urantia Foundation cannot currently hold a valid renewal copyright because renewal rights in such works were not assignable until they vested, and the Conduit was dead by 1983. Thus, if The Urantia Book is a unified work, copyright transferred by operation of law to the Conduit’s heirs in 1983, and they are the only persons who could have renewed or assigned it to Urantia Foundation. Because they did not renew the
- ↑ While the relationship between the Conduit and the Contact Commission is defined by provisions of the 1909 Act and relevant caselaw, renewal of subsisting copyrights still in their first term as of 1978 (e.g., Urantia Foundation’s copyright in The Urantia Book) is presently governed by section 304 of the 1976 Act, as amended. 17 U.S.C. § 304.
- ↑ “Proprietor” in this context refers to the entity under whose copyright the work is published; the term is distinct from author, which refers to the actual creator of the work.
- ↑ We note that these two arguments are mutually exclusive; if the Conduit was the author, as the first theory requires, then Urantia Foundation’s predecessor in interest could not be the author, as the second requires.
