Dispute over the authorship of the screenplay of a film.
Held: ‘the judgment cannot stand. The judge has adopted an erroneous approach to the evidence, failed to make important findings of primary fact, failed to take account of material matters and applied incorrect legal standards to the assessment of the sufficiency of Ms Kogan’s contributions. In those circumstances, and with reluctance, we see no escape from the conclusion that there must be a retrial. ‘
Floyd LJ observed: ‘In deciding whether there is a collaboration, it can never be enough simply to ask who did the writing . . there is a . . distinction . . between the making of the work and its reduction to material form (or fixation)’.
Judges:
Lord Justice Floyd, Lord Justice Henderson, Lord Justice Peter Jackson
Citations:
[2019] EWCA Civ 1645, [2020] ECDR 3, [2020] FSR 3, [2020] EMLR 4
Links:
Statutes:
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 10(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Martin and Another v Kogan and Others IPEC 22-Nov-2017
The parties disputed whether joint authorship of the screenplay for a film, ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’. The claimant now sought a declaration of sole authorship of film screenplay, and the defendant cross-claimed for a declaration of joint . .
Cited – Levy v Rutley CCP 1871
A claim of joint authorship was made in a play entitled The King’s Wager, or The Camp, the Cottage and the Court. The play had been written by a Mr Wilks, to whose work the plaintiff, and others at the plaintiff’s suggestion, had added a scene and a . .
Cited – Hodgens v Beckingham CA 19-Feb-2003
The defendant appealed a finding of infringement in a music copyright work, ‘Young at Heart’, based on a claim of joint authorship. The claimant had delayed his claim for many years, but now sought only rights to future royalties.
Held: The . .
Cited – Robin Ray v Classic FM Plc PatC 18-Mar-1998
Contractor and Client Copyrights
The plaintiff had contributed a design for a system of classifying and selecting tracks to be played on a radio station. He did so under a consultancy contract.
Held: A Joint authorship claim required that the contributor had made some direct . .
Cited – Tate v Thomas ChD 1921
Mr Peterman commissioned the plaintiff to write the music of a play and it was agreed that two others should write the libretto. This was done. Peterman devised the name of the play and the leading characters; he arranged the scenic effects and . .
Cited – Wiseman v George Weidenfeld and Nicholson Ltd ChD 1985
A play called The English Way of Doing Things was written by the second defendant, William Donaldson, who based it on his novel of the same name. Donaldson was an established novelist but had never written a play. The idea for transforming the novel . .
Cited – Fylde Microsystems Limited v Key Radio Systems Limited PatC 11-Feb-1998
The plaintiff’s employee wrote computer software for use with telecommunications equipment. The defendant’s employee had set the specification of the software, reported errors and bugs, made suggestions as to the cause of some faults and had . .
Cited – Neudorf v Nettwerk 10-Dec-1999
Supreme Court of British Columbia – There can be no joint authorship in the absence of a common intention to that effect.
Cohen J said: ‘In the result I find that the test for joint authorship that should be applied to the facts in the instant . .
Cited – Brighton and Another v Jones ChD 18-May-2004
The claimant was the director of a play. The defendant had written the entirety of the play first presented at rehearsals, although during rehearsals the claimant suggested changes. The parties disputed the copyright and other rights in a stage . .
Cited – Infopaq International v Danske Dagblades Forening ECJ 17-Jul-2009
ECJ Copyright Information society – Directive 2001/29/EC Articles 2 and 5 – Literary and artistic works – Concept of ‘reproduction’ Reproduction ‘in part’ Reproduction of short extracts of literary works – . .
Cited – Gestmin SGPS Sa v Credit Suisse (UK) Ltd and Another ComC 15-Nov-2013
The claimant sought damages alleging negligence by the defendants in advice given on an investment in an initial public offering of shares.
Leggatt J considered the reliability of the memories of witnesses: ‘An obvious difficulty which affects . .
Cited – Blue v Ashley ComC 26-Jun-2017
A newspaper sought disclosure of witness statements and other papers lodged at the court in the course of proceedings but not yet used in court.
Held: The application was refused.
Leggatt J said: ‘When a witness statement forms part of . .
Cited – Simetra Global Assets Ltd and Another v Ikon Finance Ltd and Others CA 9-Aug-2019
The claimant alleged that the various defendants had been involved in dishonest assistance in the running of an investment ponzi scheme leading to substantial losses.
Held: The Court considered the considerations for an appellate court asked . .
Cited – Marussia Communications Ireland Ltd v Manor Grand Prix Racing Ltd and Another ChD 13-Apr-2016
Application for summary judgment in a claim for trade mark infringement.
Held: The application was refused. The term ‘consent’ used in the Regulation had an autonomous Community meaning and it required that the proprietor demonstrate . .
Cited by:
Cited – HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Ltd ChD 11-Feb-2021
Defence had no prospect of success – Struck Out
The claimant complained that the defendant newspaper had published contents from a letter she had sent to her father. The court now considered her claims in breach of privacy and copyright, and her request for summary judgment.
Held: Warby J . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property
Updated: 24 July 2022; Ref: scu.642675