Maurizio v. Goldsmith

In January 1990, Olivia Goldsmith (defendant) completed the first 100 pages of a manuscript for a novel titled The First Wives Club (FWC). In March 1990, Al Zuckerman agreed to represent Goldsmith, but he advised Goldsmith that before Zuckerman could sell the novel, Goldsmith would need to prepare a revised partial manuscript and a promotional outline for the entire book. According to Cynthia Maurizio (plaintiff), Goldsmith then requested that Maurizio assist her with preparing the promotional outline and promised to pay Maurizio $10,000 for doing so. From April 10 through April 20, Goldsmith and Maurizio wrote outlines for the FWC chapters yet to be written, and on April 20, Goldsmith presented Zuckerman with outlines for the completed chapters. Afterwards, according to Maurizio, Goldsmith told Maurizio that the meeting with Zuckerman had gone well and proposed that Maurizio co-write the entire novel. Maurizio claimed that from April 20 through May 14 Maurizio (1) wrote two draft FWC chapters, one titled “Bad Day at Black Rock,” and the other titled “He-Man and Wonder Woman,” and (2) made numerous contributions to a novel outline. The parties agreed that they stopped working together after May 14. According to Maurizio, on May 15 and 18, Goldsmith rebuffed requests from Maurizio to enter into a formal co-authorship agreement and to give Maurizio any co-authorship credit. Goldsmith later told Maurizio that she was going to shelve the outline for a while because Zuckerman wanted to make changes to it. In January 1991, however, Maurizio learned of Goldsmith’s completion of FWC and sale of novel rights to Paramount Pictures Corporation. In March 1992, Maurizio obtained a copy of the published 480-page FWC novel and noted that her language appeared on 27 of those pages. Maurizio then sued Goldsmith, asserting claims for joint authorship and for copyright infringement. Goldsmith moved for summary judgment on both claims.