## Facts

- 16 Casa Duse, LLC (Casa Duse) produced the film *Heads Up* and hired Alex Merkin to direct.
- Casa Duse acquired screenplay rights, financed production, and hired cast and crew; all participants except Merkin signed agreements assigning rights to Casa Duse.
- Casa Duse sent Merkin a proposed work-for-hire agreement providing Casa Duse would own all rights in the film, but Merkin never signed it.
- After principal photography, Casa Duse provided Merkin a hard drive containing raw footage so he could create an initial edit.
- Merkin signed a “media agreement” allowing him to edit footage but prohibiting him from licensing, selling, or copying it without Casa Duse’s permission.
- Casa Duse arranged a screening at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) and paid a $1,956.58 deposit for a related reception.
- On the day of the screening, NYFA cancelled after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Merkin’s attorney, Maurice A. Reichman.
- Casa Duse sued for declaratory relief on copyright ownership/noninfringement and asserted state-law claims including tortious interference.

## Issues

1. Whether a film director’s creative contributions that are inseparable from, and integrated into, a film can constitute an independently copyrightable “work of authorship.”
2. Whether Casa Duse owned the copyright in the finished film and prior versions (including raw footage) despite the absence of a signed work-for-hire agreement with Merkin.
3. Whether Merkin’s cease-and-desist letter that caused cancellation of the NYFA screening constituted tortious interference with prospective business relations under New York law.
4. Whether the district court’s injunction and attorney’s-fee/cost awards should stand in light of the merits rulings.

## Decision

- Affirmed the determination that Merkin had no separate copyright in his directorial contributions because they were integrated into a single copyrighted work (the film).
- Affirmed that Casa Duse owned the copyright in the finished film and its prior versions, including the raw footage.
- Reversed summary judgment for Casa Duse on tortious interference with prospective business relations and directed judgment for Merkin on that claim.
- Vacated and remanded for reconsideration of costs and attorney’s fees in light of the partial reversal, and for further proceedings as appropriate.

## Legal Principles

- Copyright protection under 17 U.S.C. § 102 attaches to “works of authorship”; a contributor’s creative input is not separately copyrightable when it is inseparable from, and integrated into, a single work.
- A film is treated as an integrated work of authorship; a director does not automatically obtain a separate copyright in directorial choices embedded in the film absent an independently fixed, identifiable work.
- Ownership of an integrated audiovisual work may rest with the party exercising primary control and responsibility for the work’s creation and exploitation, particularly where that party financed production and obtained rights assignments from other contributors.
- Under New York law, tortious interference with prospective business relations requires more than disruption; it generally requires wrongful means or conduct directed at harming the plaintiff, and asserted legal claims or notices may be insufficient on undisputed facts.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit held that a director’s integrated contributions to a producer-controlled film are not an independently copyrightable work and upheld the producer’s ownership of the film and raw footage, but it rejected liability for tortious interference based on the screening cancellation and sent the fee and cost awards back for reconsideration.


16 Casa Duse, LLC v. Merkin, 791 F.3d 247 (2d Cir. 2015)