Agee v. Paramount Communications, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
59 F.3d 317 (1995)

- Written by Sarah Holley, JD
Facts
Michael L. Agee (plaintiff) owned the music-recording studio L & H Records and the copyright in its sound recordings. Three songs were copied by Paramount Communications, Inc. (defendant) without Agee’s permission for use in the soundtrack of a segment of its television program, Hard Copy, which was taped and transmitted to independently owned television stations (defendants) for nationwide broadcast. Paramount incorporated the music into a segment called “Caught on Tape” by synchronizing portions of the duplicated sound recording to visual images of two men attempting a burglary. The completed segment was then integrated into the Hard Copy program for transmission to the television stations. Portions of the segment, including Agee’s sound recording, were included in the program’s credits as well as in a promotional commercial produced by Paramount. However, neither the program’s credits nor the commercial included any reference to Agee. The television stations copied and aired both the program and the promotional commercial. Agee brought a copyright-infringement suit against Paramount and the television stations for the unauthorized copying and synchronization of the sound recordings. The district court granted summary judgment against Agee after concluding that none of his exclusive rights had been infringed. The district court held that because Agee’s sound-recording copyright did not extend to the underlying musical compositions, Agee’s right of reproduction did not include the exclusive right to synchronize his recording with visual images in an audiovisual work. Agee appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Newman, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.