Automatic GPL termination

[dlw]

I am amazed more people have not taken notice of this decision by the 
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Dec. 2006: 
http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=05-2237.01A
 
A favorite claim of GPL fans is that violation of a contractual term 
automatically terminates the rights granted under the GPL. If you file 
in a federal court with an infringement claim concerning the GPL because 
of an "automatic" termination (the legal term is rescission) of a 
copyright license the first inquiry for the court is whether there was 
in fact a rescission of the copyright contract:

 "Because Santa Rosa seeks rescission of his contract, if we were to 
grant him the relief that he sought, we would be required to determine 
his ownership rights by reference to the Copyright Act. In such a case, 
there is little question that we would be merely determining whether 
Santa Rosa was entitled to compensation because of "mere copying" or 
"performance, distribution or display" of his recordings. _Data Gen. 
Corp._, 36 F.3d at 1164. As such, 17 U.S.C. § 301(a) preempts Santa 
Rosa's rescission claim. Once it is determined that Santa Rosa's 
rescission claim is preempted, his only remedy is a claim under the 
Copyright Act, and "the court must then dismiss the [contract] claim for 
failing to state a cause of action." _Briarpatch Ltd._ v. _Phoenix 
Pictures, Inc._, 373 F.3d 296, 309 (2d Cir. 2004). Thus, we find no 
error in the dismissal of Santa Rosa's rescission claim."

Good luck in getting your claim of "automatic termination" heard in 
federal court !

 

 

 

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