Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd. v. Walt Disney Co.

145 F.3d 481
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 30, 1998
DocketNos. 34, 45, Dockets 96-9205, 96-9223
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 145 F.3d 481 (Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd. v. Walt Disney Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd. v. Walt Disney Co., 145 F.3d 481 (2d Cir. 1998).

Opinion

LEVAL, Circuit Judge:

Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd., an English corporation and the assignee of Igor Stravinsky’s copyrights for “The Rite of Spring,” brought this action alleging that the Walt Disney Company’s1 foreign distribution in video cassette and laser disc format (“video format”) of the film “Fantasia,” featuring Stravinsky’s work, infringed Boosey’s rights. In 1939 Stravinsky licensed Disney’s distribution of The Rite of Spring in the motion' pictured Boosey, which acquired Stravinsky’s copyright in'1947, contends that the [484]*484license does not authorize distribution in video format.

The district court (Duffy, /.) granted partial summary judgment to Boosey, declaring that Disney’s video format release was not authorized by the license agreement. Disney appeals from that ruling. The court granted partial summary judgment to Disney, dismissing Boosey’s claims for breach of contract and violation of § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); the court also dismissed Boosey’s foreign copyright claims under the doctrine of forum, non conveniens. Boosey appeals from these rulings.

We hold that summary judgment was properly granted to Disney with respect to Boosey’s Lanham Act claims, but that material issues of fact barred the other grants of summary judgment. We also reverse the order dismissing for forum, non conveniens.

Accordingly, we remand all but the Lan-ham Act claim for trial.

I. BACKGROUND

During 1938, Disney sought Stravinsky’s authorization to use The Rite of Spring (sometimes referred to as the “work” or the “composition”) throughout the world in a motion picture. Because under United States law the work was in the public domain, Disney needed no authorization to record or distribute it in this country, but permission was required for distribution in countries where Stravinsky enjoyed copyright protection. In January 1939 the parties executed an agreement (the “1939 Agreement”) giving Disney rights to use the work in a motion picture in consideration of a fee to Stravinsky of $6000.

The 1939 Agreement provided that

In consideration of the sum of Six Thousand ($6,000.) Dollars, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, [Stravinsky] does hereby give and grant unto Walt Disney Enterprises, a California .corporation ... the nonexclusive, irrevocable right, license, privilege and authority to record in any manner, medium or form, and to license the performance of, the musical composition hereinbelow set out ...

. Under “type of use” in ¶ 3, the Agreement specified that

The music of said musical composition may be used in one motion picture throughout the length thereof or through such portion or portions thereof as the Purchaser shall desire. The said music may be used in whole or in part and may be adapted, changed, added to or subtracted from, all as shall appear desirable to the Purchaser in its uncontrolled discretion---- The title “Rites of Spring” or “Le Sacre de Printemps”, or any other title, may be used as the title of said motion picture and the name of [Stravinsky] may be announced in or in connection with said motion picture.

The Agreement went on to specify in ¶ 4 that Disney’s license to the work “is limited to the use of the .musical composition in synchronism or timed-relation with the motion picture.”

Paragraph Five of the Agreement provided that

The right to record the musical composition as covered by this agreement is conditioned upon the performance of the musical work in theatres having valid licenses from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, of any other performing rights society having jurisdiction in the territory in which the said musical composition is performed.

We refer to this clause, which is of importance to the litigation, as “the ASCAP Condition.”

Finally, ¶ 7 of the Agreement provided that “the licensor reserves to himself all rights and uses in and to the said musical composition not herein specifically granted” (the “reservation clause”).

Disney released Fantasia, starring Mickey Mouse, in 1940. The film contains no dialogue. It matches a pantomime of animated beasts and fantastic creatures to passages of great classical music, creating what critics celebrated as a “partnership between fine music and animated film.” The soundtrack uses compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Du-kas, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky, all performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra [485]*485under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. As it appears in the film soundtrack, The Rite of Spring was shortened from its original 34 minutes to about 22.5; sections of the score were cut, while other sections were reordered. For more than five decades Disney exhibited The Rite of Spring in Fantasia under the 1939 license. The film has been re-released for theatrical distribution at least seven times since 1940, and although Fantasia has never appeared on television in its entirety, excerpts including portions of The Rite of Spring, have been televised occasionally over the years. Neither Stravinsky nor Boosey has ever previously objected to any of the distributions.

In 1991 Disney first releaséd Fantasia in video format. The video has been sold in foreign countries, as well as in the United States. To date, the Fantasia video release has generated more than $360 -million in gross revenue for Disney.

Boosey brought this action in February 1993. The complaint sought (1) a declaration that the 1939 Agreement did not include a grant of rights to Disney to use the Stravinsky work in video format; (2) damages for copyright infringement in at least 18 foreign countries; (3) damages under the Lanham Act for false designation of origin and misrepresentation by reason of Disney’s alteration of Stravinsky’s work; (4) damages for breach of contract, alleging that the video format release breached the 1939 Agreement; and (5) damages for unjust enrichment.2

On cross-motions for summary judgment the district court made the rulings described above. In determining that the license did not cover the distribution of a video format, the district court found that while the broad language of the license gave Disney “the right to record [the work] on video tape and laser disc,” the ASCAP Condition “prevents Disney from distributing video tapes or laser discs directly to consumers.” Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd. v. Walt Disney Co., 934 F.Supp. 119, 123 (S.D.N.Y.1996). The court therefore concluded that Disney’s video format sales exceeded the scope of the license.

However, as noted, the district court invoked forum non conveniens to dismiss all of Boosey’s claims of copyright infringement because they involved the application of foreign law. See id. at 124-25. The court dismissed Boosey’s claim for damages under the Lanham Act because of plaintiffs failure to introduce evidence of actual consumer confusion, see id. at 126, and dismissed Boosey’s breach of contract claim, finding that Disney had discharged its only contracted obligation, which was to pay Stravinsky $6000. See id. at 126-27.

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145 F.3d 481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boosey-hawkes-music-publishers-ltd-v-walt-disney-co-ca2-1998.