Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid

Citation: 490 U.S. 730
Docket Number: 88-293
Judge: Marshall
Opinion Date: June 5, 1989

The Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) and Reid, a sculptor, filed competing copyright registration certificates for a statue in Washington, D.C. The parties had never discussed copyright in the sculpture. The District Court ruled for CCNV in its subsequent suit seeking a determination of copyright ownership, holding that the statue was a “work made for hire” and was therefore owned exclusively by CCNV. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the sculpture was not a “work made for hire” under the first subsection of the 101 definition and that the statue did not satisfy the second subsection of the 101 definition, since sculpture is not one of the nine categories of “specially ordered or commissioned” works enumerated therein. However, the court remanded for a determination whether the statue was jointly authored by CCNV and Reid, such that they were co-owners of the copyright under 201(a). The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

View "Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid" on the Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center

Posted in: Cases
Published on:
Updated:

Comments are closed.