"Santa Claus is Comin To Town" rights Scrooged from recording company's grasps

A panel of Second Circuit judges have overturned an extensive extension of ownership rights over the signature “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” holiday tune on Thursday, October 8, 2015. The song, which has been owned by the heirs of songwriter John Frederick Coots, was initially determined by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin to be exempt from the termination provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act. This holding was reached despite the heirs’ attempt to terminate a grant of the rights to EMI, a music recording company.

The unpersuaded panel reversed this extension, deciding instead that Coots’ heirs properly filed a termination of the 1981 grant to EMI in 2007. This crucial finding limits EMI’s copyright ownership over the popular holiday tune from 2029 to 2016, which cuts EMI off from rights by 13 years than initially granted.

The case has been on the Second Circuit’s dockets since December of 2012 on grounds of a terminated contract. In 1981, an agreement allowed for an extension, with compensation to the heirs, but was never recorded with the U.S. Copyright Office. Thus, the unrecorded extension was the heart of a years-long court battle that was anything but cheerful and jolly.

This landmark decision is paramount for copyright issues. It ultimately turned on EMI’s admission of the execution of the agreement by the author, which made it terminable since it did not cover the right of publication. The court decided that the filing of the document was entirely irrelevant to ownership, since EMI conceded that the agreement was executed. As widely known by entertainment law practitioners, a properly written copyright agreement is the key to ensuring rights are secured and to avoid costly litigation.

While it is also understood that registering these agreements is paramount for preserving the documents’ enforceability, this decision indicates a shift in copyright law that allows for applicability to depend on certain circumstances rather than what is on file in the government’s files. This outcome is a big victory for the “little guy” over the big businesses that typically win these court battles based on sophistication and legal loopholes in contracting.

Instead, Coots’ heirs apparently will be visited by Santa Claus for the years to come since they won the copyright over the legendary Christmas hit, while EMI might be feeling as if they were Scrooged out of profitable ownership. The initial copyright, filed in 1934, is assigned to EMI until next year. In theory, the heirs of Coots have acted as a Grinch upon EMI’s rights, and the recording company may desire to work towards trademarking a familiar phrase it’s likely going to be using: Bah Humbug!

By: Samantha Kelley, Associate Editor of Sports and Entertainment

photo credit: Tim Evanson via flickr cc

Source: http://www.law360.com/ip/articles/712492/emi-will-lose-rights-to-santa-song-next-year-2nd-circ-says