Under a written agreement the owners of the copyright in a dramatic and the musical work agreed to let to the defendant the right of professionally performing the work in the provinces of the United Kingdom, reserving to themselves full liberty to permit amateur performance. While this agreement was in force the same owners, in consideration of payments of royalties, granted to the plaintiffs a licence for 5-years to produce the work in moving picture films and to lease the film for exhibitions in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and agreed that the plaintiffs should have the right while showing the films to render instrumentally, but not a vocally, any portions of the music of the work. The plaintiffs produced a film of the work and had made arrangement for exhibiting the film with the orchestral music of the work, when the defendant published an announcement in various periodicals papers, stating that the entire provincial rights in the work and in the music in connection with any stage performance or moving pictures display other than amateur performances, where vested in him, and the was again proprietor or in. the plaintiffs claimed a decoration that they were entitled to the exclusive right of producing the work by cinematographe in the United Kingdom and of Performing a music instrument Lee in connection with the display of any film. The court ordered a speedy trial of the question of title between the plaintiffs and the defendant.
Held: there had been a partial assignment of the copyright to the defendant and he had become the owner of that particular right mentioned in his agreement, and was entitled to take steps to prevent any improvement of that right by the plaintiffs in performing the music of the work.
A copyright licence involves permission to do what would otherwise constitute an infringement. A mere licence to make copies is not an assignment of copyright.
Judges:
Lush, McArdle JJ
Citations:
[1918] 1 KB 299, 87 LJKB 689, 118 LT 626, 34 TLR 362, 62 Sol Jo 192
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Profile Software Ltd v Becogent Ltd OHCS 16-Feb-2005
The pursuers claimed for breach of copyright and of a software licence. The defendants disputed the title or right of the pursuers to claim.
Held: The assignation of the rights in the software carried with it the rights to enforce intellectual . .
Cited – Messager v British Broadcasting Association Co HL 1929
M composed of the music for a French opera ‘Le Petit Michus’. An English version was to be produced in London on the terms of an agreement, describing itself as a licence, between the composer and the authors of the opera, between the licensors, and . .
Cited – Jonathan Cape Ltd v Consolidated Press Ltd 1954
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Intellectual Property
Updated: 09 February 2022; Ref: scu.242250
