## Facts

- Herbert L. Cohen, doing business as Bizarre Music Co., owned the copyright in the musical composition “Merry-Go-Round.”
- On May 12, 1969, Cohen granted H & J Pictures, Inc. a synchronization license to use the composition in the motion picture *Medium Cool* and to exhibit the film “in theatres and on television,” while reserving all other rights not specifically granted.
- H & J later assigned Paramount Pictures Corp. its rights in the film, including the rights created by the 1969 license.
- Paramount provided a negative of the film to a manufacturer that made videocassette copies and supplied them to Paramount.
- Paramount sold about 2,725 videocassettes, generating gross revenues of $69,024.26.
- Cohen sued for copyright infringement, alleging the 1969 license did not authorize reproduction and distribution of videocassettes for home viewing.
- The parties proceeded on stipulated facts and cross-motions for summary judgment; the district court granted summary judgment to Paramount.
- Cohen appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a synchronization license authorizing exhibition of a film “in theatres and on television,” with a reservation of all other rights, includes the right to reproduce and distribute videocassettes for home viewing.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit reversed the summary judgment for Paramount and remanded.
- The court held that the license’s grant of exhibition “by means of television” did not include the right to distribute videocassettes.
- The court treated the dispute as one of license scope: use outside the license constitutes copyright infringement.

## Legal Principles

- Copyright licenses are construed to grant only rights expressly conveyed, plus those necessarily incident to the authorized uses.
- Where a license contains an express reservation of “all other rights” not specifically granted, unmentioned modes of exploitation remain with the copyright owner.
- “Exhibition by television” (broadcast or cable transmission) is distinct from videocassette exploitation, which involves making and distributing tangible copies for viewer-controlled playback.
- Absent broad “all media” or “now known or hereafter devised” language, courts generally will not infer permission for later-developed technologies when the grant is limited to specified media.

## Conclusion

A synchronization license limited to theatrical and television exhibition, coupled with an express reservation of all other rights, does not authorize reproduction and distribution of videocassettes for home viewing; unauthorized home-video exploitation exceeds the license and may constitute infringement.


Cohen, d/b/a Bizarre Music Co. v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 845 F.2d 851 (9th Cir. 1988)