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Korman v. HBC Florida

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

182 F.3d 1291 (1999)

Facts

During the 1970s, Mimi Korman (plaintiff) wrote several jingles for a radio station owned by HBC Florida, Inc. (station) (defendant) and allowed the station to play them on the air. The parties never entered into a written agreement about the jingles, and there was no evidence indicating any understanding about the duration of the implied license to use the jingles. Korman ended her relationship with the station in 1979. In 1993, Korman discovered that the station was still playing one of her jingles. Korman left a message for the general manager, requesting that the station stop using the jingle unless it was willing to compensate her, but no one from the station returned her call. Korman also registered a copyright for the jingle at that time. In 1995, Korman again heard the station playing her jingle and this time wrote a letter referencing the copyright certificate and offering to negotiate about the use of her copyrighted material. The station ignored Korman again and continued playing the jingle, so Korman sued the station for copyright infringement. The district court entered judgment for the station, finding that 17 U.S.C. § 203 precluded Korman from terminating the license for 35 years. Korman appealed.

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Holding and Reasoning (Carnes, J.)

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