Corcovado Music Corp. v. Hollis Music, Inc.

981 F.2d 679 (1993)

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Corcovado Music Corp. v. Hollis Music, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
981 F.2d 679 (1993)

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Facts

In 1958 and 1960, the Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim entered into a series of contracts with Brazilian music publisher Editora Musical Arapua (Arapua) pursuant to which Jobim assigned to Arapua the United States copyrights for five of his songs, which were later assigned to Hollis Music, Inc. (Hollis) (defendant). In 1987 and 1988, Jobim, believing he had retained the United States copyright renewal rights for the five songs, assigned those rights to Corcovado Music Corp. (Corcovado) (plaintiff). After expiration of the original-term copyrights, Hollis continued to receive payments in connection with the five songs notwithstanding Jobim’s assignment of the renewal rights to Corcovado. Corcovado filed suit, alleging Hollis was infringing the renewal copyrights in the five songs. Hollis moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing the 1958 and 1960 contracts in which Jobim assigned the copyrights to Arapua—negotiated and executed in Brazil—required interpretation from a Brazilian court. The district court agreed and granted the motion to dismiss. Corcovado appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Feinberg, J.)

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