FINAL EXAMINATION
COPYRIGHT LAW OF THE UNITED STATES
PROFESSOR BECK
Spring 2006
1.
You have three (3) hours to complete this exam.
2.
This is an open book exam. You
may use any notes, books or other written materials to assist you in responding
to the questions.
3.
There are three (3) essay questions on
this exam. Answer each question as fully
as you can, citing any appropriate cases, public policies, and statutes that
are relevant. Remember to allocate your
time among the three questions.
a.
Question 1 = 40 points
b.
Question 2 = 35 points
c.
Question 3 = 25 points
Total
= 100 points
4.
Only
write on the front side of the page in your blue books. Write legibly or print
if your handwriting is difficult to read.
If I cannot read your response to a question, your grade will be
adversely affected.
5.
Write your exam number on your exam envelope, all used blue books, exam materials and at the
top of this exam question packet, and each page of questions. Do not use your name, student ID number, or
Social Security Number.
6.
At the conclusion of the exam, return all
test materials, including blue books, scratch paper, and this exam question
packet to the envelope and submit it to the proctor. DO NOT seal the envelope. Students
who do not return all exam materials at the end of the exam may not be graded.
QUESTION NO. 1 (40 Points)
Plaintiff Video Clips Inc. (“P”) is in the business of licensing motion pictures or portions thereof, for exhibition on television and home video. P generally charges between $2000 and $5000 per minute for a license to use excerpts of its movies in television productions.
In 1985 P acquired the
exclusive television rights to the movie “Stage Lights”. That movie tells the story of a boy who
becomes a famous conductor, and includes a number of performances by well-known
classical artists. One, Lily Vanillie,
sings her favorite aria (“Lily’s Song”).
This performance is about 5 minutes of the two hour movie.
Defendant Good Foundation (“D”), is a properly registered nonprofit corporation dedicated to improving public awareness of the fine arts. D produces a television program called The Classics Show (“TCS”) which is distributed free to nonprofit and community television and cable channels.. Each one hour TCS program is a compilation of clips of classical arts performances taken from visual materials donated to D by video distributors, artists and cultural institutions. D forbids commercial advertisements in any of its programs.
In
1990, P, in return for a license fee of $5000 granted Moviemaker (“M”) the
right to use not more than two minutes of the Vanillie segment in a documentary
on famous opera singers. Subsequently M
donated a copy of the documentary to D and authorized D to use the documentary
in TCS programs. The documentary
includes about 90 seconds of Lily’s Song.
This clip was preceded by M’s five minute interview with Ms. Vanillie,
and about 30 seconds of voice over at the start of the Lily’s Song clip. Thus, about one minute of Lily’s Song from
Stage Lights was used without change in the documentary.
Subsequently,
M donated a copy of the documentary to D, and authorized D to use the
documentary in TCS programs. In a TCS
program in 2004, D incorporated the
Vanillie clip from the documentary in one of its programs, which was
distributed to and broadcast by several non-profit and community television
stations.
P discovered this
broadcast and promptly filed suit for copyright infringement, alleging that the
broadcast of the TCS program containing the clip of Lily’s Song is an
infringement of its exclusive television rights in Stage Lights. D has answered
the complaint, denying that the TCS program containing the Lily’s Song clip is
an infringing copy of Stage Lights, and asserting defenses of license and fair
use.
P moves for summary
judgment of infringement. Discuss P’s
infringement claim and D’s defenses to that claim.
QUESTION NO. 2 (35
Points)
Precise Legal Forms (“P”) developed an automated
forms program for
To use CalForms, the
user selects a legal topic (such as “Trusts and Estates”) and subtopic (such as “IRS Forms”), and then
chooses the appropriate form. The actual
form does not appear on the computer screen.
Instead, the program displays a series of “dialog boxes” which ask the
user for the appropriate information required by the form. For example, the first dialog boxes might ask
“Name” and “Address” and provide blank boxes where the user types the name and
address. The dialog boxes guide the
user through the form, ensuring that the form is correctly filled out. When the last dialog box is filled out, the
form is complete and ready to be printed out.
P timely registered its copyright in CalForms as a computer program and compilation of automated forms, but did not claim a copyright in the forms themselves. P licenses CalForms to law firms, with an express restriction in its shrink-wrap license that “The Licensed Program may not be used to create a product that competes with any product or service of Licensor.”
Dewey
Cheatham LLP (“D”) originally licensed CalForms from P, but later decided that
it could do a better job. D then
collected its own official and public domain forms and developed its own
original forms, and using Automax created its own automated forms program
(“GSForms”). This program has a database
of 650 forms. D also chose to use
Automax’s default (dialog box) option, and as a result the appearance of screen
displays in GSForms is very similar to that in CalForms. In developing GSForms, D interviewed all of
its employees who used CalForms to identify ways that the new program could be
made more user friendly. D also cross
checked its list of forms against CalForms to make sure that it had not missed
any official forms. As a result GSForms
is slightly more user friendly that CalForms and includes more forms.
D’s database includes
650 forms, of which about 70% overlap P’s database. Thus about 80% of the forms selected by P
were included in D’s database. However,
none of the forms developed by P were copied by D. D’s database has a similar, but not identical
organization. D uses twice as many
categories (26) as P (13) and does not use subtopics . Three of D’s categories are identical to P’s,
and five others contain similar subject matter, but have different names.
D
has begun licensing GSForms, and P has filed suit, alleging copyright
infringement and breach of contract. P
contends that GSForms is substantially similar to CalForms both in the
selection and organization of the forms, and in the screen displays and use of
dialog boxes, and that D used CalForms in creating GSForms in violation of the
license agreement. D contends that it
has not taken any protected expression from the P’s work, that the overlap in
forms and their organization is inherent in any collection of legal forms, and
that any similarities in the screen displays result from use of the default
mode in Automax, which both parties used in automating the forms. It also contends that the shrink-wrap license
is not enforceable, and constitutes copyright misuse.
Discuss
P’s claims and D’s defenses, citing relevant authorities and statutes.
QUESTION NO. 3 (25 Points)
Alvin
Architect (“A”) is a self-employed architect.
MegaCorp (“M”) hired A to design a corporate headquarters. M’s CEO admired the work of Frank Lloyd Wright,
and asked A to use Wright’s 1903 Larkin Building as the basis for the design,
and also told A that because M intended to add a manufacturing building on the
site in a later phase the design needed to readily adaptable to other
buildings. After several designs were
rejected, A finally produced blueprints that M accepted. The written contract provided A a fee of
$35,000 as payment in full for the final blueprints. M then hired Builder Co. (“B”) to construct
the building, and A had no further involvement.
M
was very pleased with B’s work, and the next year hired B to complete the
second phase, the design and construction of the manufacturing plant. B used A’s blueprints as the basis for the
exterior design of manufacturing plant but independently created a new interior
design. As a result, the outward appearance of the two buildings
was very similar. B was paid $5,000,000
to design and construct the second building, and had profits of $750,000.
When
A saw the second building he believed that the design was a copy of his
design. He immediately registered a
copyright in his blueprints, and promptly thereafter filed suit for copyright
infringement, seeking the profits earned by B in constructing the second building,
and attorneys fees.
B alleges that the use of the
blueprints was authorized by M, that A knew that the exterior design would be
used as the basis for the second building and that any damages would be limited to the fee A
would have received for modifying his exterior design to the manufacturing
building.
Discuss
B’s defenses citing relevant statutes and authorities.
End of Exam