## Facts

- Between 1925 and 1931, songwriter Dave Dreyer and co-authors granted a music publisher (predecessor to Bourne Co.) copyrights in five songs, including “Me and My Shadow” and “There’s a Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder.”
- In 1951, Dreyer executed agreements assigning the publisher the right to obtain the copyrights’ renewal terms and splitting certain royalties between author and publisher.
- In 1965, Dreyer executed a will placing his “music assets” (including renewal and extension rights and ASCAP-related rights) into a trust for specified beneficiaries; he died soon thereafter.
- In 1981, Dreyer’s statutory heirs (widow and children) served the publisher with notice purporting to terminate Dreyer’s prior grants under 17 U.S.C. § 304(c) and assigned the recaptured interests to Larry Spier, Inc.
- Spier sued in the Southern District of New York for declaratory and related relief recognizing its claimed ownership and entitlement to royalties.
- The district court granted summary judgment for Bourne, concluding § 304(c) barred recognition of the assignment under which Spier claimed ownership.

## Issues

1. Whether Dreyer’s statutory heirs could validly terminate Dreyer’s pre-1978 grants of renewal interests under 17 U.S.C. § 304(c) despite Dreyer’s prior assignments and testamentary trust.
2. Whether, after a valid § 304(c) termination, the statutory heirs could assign the recaptured renewal interests to a third-party publisher such as Spier.
3. Whether the district court correctly held that § 304(c) prohibited recognition of Spier’s claimed ownership derived from the heirs’ post-termination assignment.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit reversed the grant of summary judgment for Bourne and remanded.
- The court held that § 304(c) did not prohibit recognition of the heirs’ termination and their subsequent assignment to Spier.
- The court concluded that Dreyer’s prior agreements and will could not defeat the statutory termination right vested in the eligible survivors.
- The court further concluded that, once termination is validly effected, the recaptured rights vest in the statutory successors, who may dispose of them by a new grant, including to a third party.

## Legal Principles

- Termination rights under 17 U.S.C. § 304(c) are federally created, inalienable rights that cannot be waived or eliminated by contract or by an author’s testamentary arrangements.
- Compliance with § 304(c)’s statutory prerequisites (including eligible persons and timing/notice requirements) effectuates termination of the covered pre-1978 grant as of the termination’s effective date, subject to statutory limitations (including protections for certain derivative works).
- After a valid termination, the recaptured copyright interests vest in the statutory successors, who are not barred by § 304(c) from making a new grant or assignment of those interests to a third party.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit held that § 304(c) allowed Dreyer’s widow and children to terminate Dreyer’s earlier grants of renewal interests notwithstanding Dreyer’s prior assignments and trust, and that the heirs could validly assign the recaptured rights to Larry Spier, Inc.; summary judgment for Bourne was therefore reversed and the case remanded.


Larry Spier, Inc. v. Bourne Co., 953 F.2d 774 (2d Cir. 1992)