Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.

205 Cal. App. 2d 441 (1962)

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Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.

California Court of Appeals
205 Cal. App. 2d 441 (1962)

Facts

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Incorporated (Edgar) (plaintiff) owned the copyright to the fictional character of Tarzan (the character). In 1931, Edgar granted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Incorporated (MGM) (defendant) the rights to create an original story and produce a motion picture using the character. Under the contract, MGM also had the right to remake the original motion picture as long as the remake was substantially similar to the original. In 1932, MGM produced a motion picture (the movie) using the character, and in 1959, MGM produced a remake of the movie (the remake), which included some adaptations to modernize the movie but did not alter the plot, sequence, theme, or main action of the original movie. Edgar filed suit, asserting that MGM had breached the contract and infringed Edgar’s copyright because the contract allegedly had not granted MGM the right to make adaptations to modernize the original movie. The lower court ultimately dismissed the complaint, finding that the contract was unambiguous and that the right to make remakes of the movie inherently included the right to modernize any remakes. The trial court also found that the remake was substantially similar to the original story as a matter of law. Edgar appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Lillie, J.)

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