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 supplied certain catch lines in the dialogue. He claimed all this entitled him to be a joint author.
Held: It is not enough to claim joint authorship in a play that a contributor suggested a comic routine or a plot. The scenic effects were not in themselves subject to copyright protection under the 1911 Act, and therefore to be disregarded, and his other contributions were too insignificant to make him a joint author.
Judges:
Eve J
Citations:
[1921] 1 Ch 503
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
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 – Kogan v Martin and Others CA 9-Oct-2019
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property
Updated: 07 September 2022; Ref: scu.188596