1. Home
  2. Browse Decisions
  3. F.3d
  4. 380 F.3d
  5. 380 F.3d 624 (2004)
 

MARTHA GRAHAM SCHOOL AND DANCE FOUNDATION, INC. v. MARTHA GRAHAM CENTER OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE, INC.

Docket Nos. 02-9451(L), 03-7020(CON).

380 F.3d 624 (2004)

MARTHA GRAHAM SCHOOL AND DANCE FOUNDATION, INC., Plaintiff-Counterclaim-Defendant-Appellant, Ronald Protas, individually and as Trustee of the Martha Graham Trust, Plaintiff-Counterclaim-Defendant-Appellant, v. MARTHA GRAHAM CENTER OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE, INC., and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, Inc., Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Appellees, Eliot L. Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Decided: August 18, 2004.

Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Judd Burstein, New York, NY (David Nimmer, Alison Hajdusiewicz, Irell & Manella, LLP, Los Angeles, Cal., on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Counterclaim-Defendants-Appellants.

Katherine B. Forrest, New York, NY, (Joanne M. Gentile, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Appellees.

Barbara L. Quint, Asst. Atty. Gen., New York, NY (Eliot Spitzer, N.Y. State Atty. Gen., New York, NY, on the brief), for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee.

Oliver Metzger, New York, NY (Charles L. Kerr, James E. Hough, Morrison & Foerster LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for amici curiae American Dance Festival, Inc., Gerald Arpino and Gordon Davidson, in support of Plaintiffs-Counterclaim-Defendants-Appellants.

Before: NEWMAN, KEARSE, and POOLER, Circuit Judges.

JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal raises several copyright and contract issues relating primarily to dances choreographed by the late Martha Graham, widely regarded as the founder of modern dance. The primary issue is whether the work-for-hire doctrine applies to works created by the principal employee of a corporation that was, in the Appellants' view, "created to serve the creative endeavors of an artistic genius." Br. for Appellants at 20. This and other...

Let's get started

Leagle.com

Welcome to the leading source of independent legal reporting
Sign on now to see your case.
Or view more than 10 million decisions and orders.

  • Updated daily.
  • Uncompromising quality.
  • Complete, Accurate, Current.

Listed below are the cases that are cited in this Featured Case. Click the citation to see the full text of the cited case. Citations are also linked in the body of the Featured Case.

Cited Cases

  • No Cases Found

Listed below are those cases in which this Featured Case is cited. Click on the case name to see the full text of the citing case.

Citing Cases