## Facts

- A composer obtained original copyrights in multiple musical works and died before the statutory time to apply for copyright renewal.
- He was survived by his widow and by an illegitimate child, both living throughout the relevant period.
- The child’s guardian sought a declaration that the child had an ownership interest in renewed copyrights and those later renewable during the widow’s lifetime, plus an accounting of profits.
- The dispute centered on (1) whether an illegitimate child fell within the Copyright Act’s term “children,” and (2) whether the widow alone, or the widow and child together, held the renewal interest.

## Issues

1. Under the Copyright Act’s renewal provision, do the “widow, widower, or children” take the renewal right as a class that shares the renewal term when more than one exists?
2. Does the term “children” include an illegitimate child, and is that determination made by federal law or by reference to state inheritance law?

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for the child.
- The Court held that when an author dies before renewal, the renewal right vests in the widow and children as a class, with each sharing in the renewal term.
- The Court held that an illegitimate child qualifies as a “child” for renewal purposes if, under applicable state law, the child would be an heir of the author.
- Applying California inheritance law, the Court concluded the child qualified and therefore shared renewal rights with the widow.

## Legal Principles

- The renewal term creates a distinct statutory interest that, upon the author’s death before renewal, passes to the statutorily preferred family beneficiaries.
- When both a widow (or widower) and children survive, they take the renewal right as a class, sharing the renewal interest rather than taking in exclusive or successive fashion.
- The meaning of “children” in the federal renewal provision may incorporate state domestic-relations and inheritance rules; an illegitimate child is included when state law recognizes the child as an heir of the author.

## Conclusion

The Court interpreted the renewal provision to allocate renewal rights jointly to the surviving widow and children as a single beneficiary class and to include an illegitimate child within “children” when state inheritance law treats the child as the author’s heir, entitling the child to share in the renewal term and related proceeds.


De Sylva v. Ballentine, 351 U.S. 570 (1956)