Volume 09, Number 12, May 1988
ENTERTAINMENT LAW REPORTER RECENT CASES Paramount Pictures is not entitled to include copy- righted song in videocassettes of "Medium Cool" be- cause synchronization license authorized song's use only for theatrical and television exhibition A synchronization license granting H&J Pictures the right to use the song "Merry-Go-Round" in the film "Medium Cool" and to exhibit the film in theaters and television did not include the right to use the song in videocassettes of the film, a Federal Court of Appeals has held. Herbert Cohen, the copyright holder in the song, which was written by Larry ("Wildman") Fischer, granted the synchronization license to H&J in 1969. Subsequently, H&J assigned its rights, title and interest in "Medium VOLUME 9, NUMBER 12, MAY 1988 ENTERTAINMENT LAW REPORTER Cool" to Paramount Pictures. Paramount eventually manufactured and sold about 2700 videocassettes of the film, receiving a gross revenue of about $69,000 from the sales. When Cohen sued Paramount for copyright infringe- ment, the District Court granted Paramount's motion for summary judgment. In reversing the District Court's de- cision, Judge Proctor Hug set forth the relevant language of the license, which began by granting H&J the "authority ... to record, in any manner, medium, form or language, the words and music of the musical composi- tion ... with ['Medium Cool'], all in accordance with the terms, conditions, and limitations hereinafter set forth ... " Paragraph 4 of the license stated, "The ... license herein granted to perform ... said musical composition is granted for: (a) The exhibition of said motion picture ... to audiences in motion picture theaters ..
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