COPYRIGHT LAW

FINAL EXAM

Gasaway                                                                                             Fall 2004
 

Anna Nigma (A) was an environmental lawyer who wanted to be a mystery writer.  She     
spent all of her spare time preparing for this new career.  (A) took creative writing 
classes for several years, watched “Mystery” on public television and attended mystery 
writer conventions.  (A) developed an idea for a mystery series that she believed would 
be very successful. The sleuths, Sandra and Sanford Solon, are lawyer-detectives who 
solve environmental mysteries.   Naturally, these environmental problems are accompanied 
with assorted murder and mayhem.  Sandra and Sanford seek the truth and work to see 
that wrong doers are apprehended and punished for their crimes.

 (A) found a literary agent and was successful in getting her first novel Toxic Murder 
published.  It was registered for copyright in the United States in 2001.  Toxic Murder sold 
millions in hardback, and won the Agatha Award for the best mystery of the year.  The 
paperback edition sold another 20 million copies.  People were quite taken with the 
characters, Sandra and Sanford, and they became folk heroes of sorts.
 
 (A) developed detailed outlines for the next four books in the series and signed a book deal
with Mysterious Press to publish the books when they were completed.   The publisher agreed
to release one per year and (A) was given a cash advance on book number two.  The
manuscript for Son of Toxic Murder and the detailed outlines were prepared by a typing service.
Before (A) had the opportunity to begin work on her third novel, she was notified by the typing
service that a typist, her manuscript and the book outlines had disappeared.  (A) then learned
that some unnamed typist had approached Bantam Books (B) and offered to sell it her
unpublished manuscript and the remaining outlines.  (B) recently announced its plans to
introduce its own environmental mystery series.

 Because of the success of Toxic Murder and the interest in the characters, (A) decided that
she should capitalize on this success.  With her friend, documentary filmmaker, Charlie Mogul
(C), she decided to make a documentary film about how she developed the Sandra and Sanford
Salon characters.  Naturally, there are long interviews with (A) as well as with fans of the book,
librarians and bookstore owners.  (A) and (C) are joint owners of the copyright in documentary
film entitled “Superfund Sleuths.”  It was quite successful for a documentary film.  (C) has already
re-edited the film and produced a new version “Superfund Sleuths 2” without (A)’s knowledge.

Almost immediately, Drenda Dastard (D), a rival documentary filmmaker, produced a film about
women mystery writers.  She included (A) because of the phenomenal success of Toxic Murders
and used large portions of the interviews with (A) that appeared in “Superfund Sleuth” without
(A)’s permission.
 
  (A) attended a mystery weekend in Wilmington sponsored by a local hotel.  One part of the
program was a musical review which made fun of the most popular mystery novels of the year.
(A) detested the fact that the musical review made Sandra and Sanford Solon seem like dweebs
and mocked the title of the book calling it “Murder by Toxic Shock Syndrome.” Effer Vescent (E),
the producer of the show, was quite proud of his work; in fact, at the end of the performance, he
introduced (A) in the audience,  not recognizing that viewed the review as denigration of her work.

 Fred Freely (F), a college student at Gettadegree Institute (G), maintains a webpage on (G)’s
server.  Less than 24 hours after the documentary film was exhibited at the Varsity Theater.  (F)
posted the film on his website along with many other films.

 Howtodoit University (H) offers an online course in mystery writing, and the faculty members who
team teach the course selected Toxic Murder as one of the novels the class would study during
the semester.  The faculty made photocopies of the first five and final chapters of Toxic Murder
and mailed the copies to class members in lieu of requiring them to purchase copies of the novel.
During a class session where Toxic Murder was discussed, a faculty member streamed a copy
of the film “Super Sleuths” for the class.
 
 (A) has consulted you to advise her on  the problems she has had with (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G)
and (H).  Discuss any causes of action she might have against these parties along with any
remedies.  Also alert her to any defenses any of the parties might have.