## Facts

- John Luther Long wrote and copyrighted a *Madame Butterfly* story in 1897.
- David Belasco, with consent, wrote a play based on the story in 1900; the play was copyrighted in 1917.
- In 1901, Long and Belasco contracted with G. Ricordi & Co., granting Ricordi exclusive rights to make an opera libretto from Belasco’s dramatic version (founded on Long’s theme), stating the libretto and “all rights therein, dramatic or otherwise” would be Ricordi’s exclusive property worldwide.
- Ricordi produced Puccini’s opera *Madame Butterfly*, copyrighted in 1904; Ricordi later acquired the opera’s renewal copyright.
- Ricordi sought a declaratory judgment that it exclusively owned motion picture rights in the opera’s renewal copyright and obtained an injunction preventing Paramount from interfering.
- Paramount asserted motion picture rights in the underlying Long story and Belasco play and argued Ricordi could not film the opera without using those underlying works, absent Paramount’s consent.
- The parties cross-moved for summary judgment; the district court ruled for Ricordi, and Paramount appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the 1901 contract conveyed motion picture rights to Ricordi, and if so, whether such rights extended into any renewal term.
2. Whether Ricordi’s renewal copyright in the opera permitted it to control motion picture use of the underlying Long story and Belasco play after their copyrights expired or renewed.
3. Whether, and to what extent, the opera’s renewal copyright protects only the opera’s original contributions (“new matter”) as against use of underlying materials.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit reversed the judgment declaring Ricordi the exclusive owner of motion picture rights in the opera’s renewal copyright and vacated the injunction to that extent.
- Ricordi’s renewal copyright in the opera protects only the opera’s protectable original contributions, not the underlying story and play as such.
- Any control Ricordi derived from the 1901 contract over use of Long’s and Belasco’s materials did not continue beyond the duration of those underlying copyrights absent a clear, effective grant covering renewal interests.
- Paramount (and others) could use the underlying story and play for motion pictures to the extent those materials were in the public domain or otherwise available to Paramount, provided the film does not appropriate the opera’s protectable new matter.

## Legal Principles

- A renewal copyright constitutes a new estate; assignments made during the original term do not automatically bind the renewal term without a clear and effective grant of renewal interests.
- A derivative work’s copyright protects only original expression added by the derivative author(s); it does not confer exclusive rights in preexisting public-domain or separately owned underlying material.
- General contract language granting “all rights” in a derivative component (such as a libretto) is not read to create perpetual or renewal-term control over underlying works beyond their copyright terms absent specific agreement and authority.
- Once an underlying work enters the public domain, it may be used freely, subject to the limitation that later copyrighted additions (new matter) may not be copied.

## Conclusion

The court held that Ricordi’s renewal copyright in the opera secured exclusive rights only in the opera’s original additions, and it could not use that renewal to bar motion picture use of the underlying story and play once those underlying rights expired or were otherwise available, so long as the opera’s protected new matter was not copied.


G. Ricordi & Co. v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 189 F.2d 469 (2d Cir. 1951)