Cite as 61 Fed.Appx. 538 (10th Cir. 2003)
copyright, if The Urantia Book is a unified work, it now resides in the public domain.
If, however, The Urantia Book is a composite work, then Urantia Foundation’s renewal copyright in The Urantia Book is valid. Urantia Foundation is the proprietor of the copyright in The Urantia Book and, under the governing statute, the proprietor of a copyright in a composite work may renew its copyright in both the compilation and the individual underlying works. 17 U.S.C. § 304(a)(1)(B)(i). The district court held on summary judgment that Urantia Foundation is the proprietor of the copyright, and Michael Foundation does not challenge that holding. Thus, if The Urantia Book is a composite work and the Conduit is its author, Urantia Foundation owns the copyright in both the arrangement of the works in the composite and in the underlying works themselves, because the Conduit transferred his rights to Dr. Sadler, who then transferred them to Urantia Foundation in a deed of trust.
The alternative exception under which Urantia Foundation asserts the validity of its renewal copyright in The Urantia Book invokes the “commissioned works doctrine.” Under this judicially created doctrine, the nature of the book itself is not at issue; the focus instead is upon the relationship between the Contact Commission and the Conduit and the circumstances of the work’s creation. If, under the test developed by the caselaw,[1] the Contact Commission specially commissioned The Urantia Book from the Conduit, then Urantia Foundation—as the Contact Commission’s successor in interest—was entitled to renew its copyright in 1983 as its proprietor. 17 U.S.C. § 24 (repealed); 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(1)(B)(ii).
The facts Urantia Foundation must prove to support these alternative arguments are as follows:
Composite work argument:
- The Conduit composed The Urantia Book, then assigned his interest in it to Urantia Foundation’s predecessor in interest prior to The Urantia Book’s publication in 1955, making Urantia Foundation the proprietor of the rights in The Urantia Book, and
- The Urantia Book is a composite work, entitling Urantia Foundation to renew its copyright in 1983 under the proprietor exception to the usual renewal provisions.
Commissioned work argument:
- The Contact Commission was the “author” of The Urantia Book because it specially commissioned the Conduit to write it, making The Urantia Book a commissioned work under a judicially created doctrine parallel to the work for hire provisions of the 1909 Act, and
- Urantia Foundation, as the Contact Commission’s predecessor in interest, qualifies as the Conduit’s employer, entitling it to renew The Urantia Book as a work for hire in 1983.[2]
Urantia Foundation secured a jury instruction in its favor as to the first proposition (i.e., that it is the proprietor of the copyright in The Urantia Book). The district court submitted the remaining three propositions to the jury, which found against Urantia Foundation in each ease.
- 2. Standard of Review
Urantia Foundation argues, as a preliminary matter, that the question of initial classification of works for copyright purposes is a question of law for the court
