Robin Ray v Classic FM Plc
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 18 March 1998 |
| Date | 18 March 1998 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
Chancery Division
Before Mr Justice Lightman
Copyright - establishing joint authorship
To establish joint authorship for the purposes of section 10 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, it was essential that a person could show he had direct responsibility for what actually appeared on the paper.
Mr Justice Lightman so held in a reserved judgment in the Chancery Division, when upholding a claim by the plaintiff, Mr Robin Ray, that the defendant, Classic FM plc, had infringed his copyright in five documents containing his proposals as to how the tracks on the defendant's music recordings should be categorised and in a catalogue compiled by the plaintiff over a five-year period.
Mr Martin Howe, QC and Ms Lindsay Lane for Mr Ray; Mr Antony Watson, QC and Miss Denise McFarland for Classic FM.
MR JUSTICE LIGHTMAN said that a joint author was a person who collaborated with another author in the production of a work and who, as an author, provided a significant creative input and whose contribution was not distinct from that of the other author.
He had to contribute to the production of the work and create something protected by copyright which found its way into the finished work: see Cala Homes (South) Ltd v Alfred McAlpine Homes East LtdUNK ([1995] FSR 818).
Copyright existed not in ideas, but the written expression of ideas. A joint author had to participate in the writing and share responsibility for the form of expression in the literary work. Accordingly, he had to do more than contribute ideas to the author: he had to be an author, or creator of the work in question.
In Cala, Mr Justice Laddie had held that there was no restriction on the way in which a joint author's contribution might be funnelled into the finished work, and in particular that there was no requirement that each of the authors had to have exercised penmanship.
There was no reason why penmanship should be insisted on any more in cases of joint authors than in the case of a sole author who might dictate his work to a scribe.
But in his Lordship's judgment...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sprint Electric Ltd v Buyer's Dream Ltd
...copyright works are created in the course of a contractor providing services to a principal that was provided by Lightman J in Robin Ray v Classic FM plc [1998] FSR 622 (“ Robin Ray”) (cited by Mr Prescott QC at first instance and approved by the Court of Appeal in Griggs v Evans [2005] E......
-
Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth
...adding some detail of his own. 202 The judge then analysed this situation by finding that it fell within what Lightman J had said in Robin Ray v. Classic FM [1998] FSR 622, especially at 642 at para (7): (7) circumstances may exist when the necessity for an assignment of copyright may be e......
-
Martin John Coward v Phaestos Ltd and Others
...during the course of the business must be partnership assets. 199 Mr Bloch QC also referred me to the judgment of Lightman J in Robin Ray v Classic FM PLC [1998] FSR 622 at 642 in which he says that the business efficacy approach (albeit outside the partnership context) was also endorsed in......
-
First Subsea Ltd v Balltec Ltd and Others
...and could only be used for the purposes of BSW. Such an implicit term is consistent with the principles identified by Lightman J in Robin Ray v Classic FM [1998] FSR 622 at 641–643. (I would in passing observe that whilst the questions of copyright and confidence are normally distinct the t......
-
Who Owns the Copyright? Dealing with 'Silent' Contracts
...title that required consideration by the Court. OWNERSHIP OF THE BENEFICIAL TITLE TO COPYRIGHT In the case of Robin Ray v Classic FM plc [1998] FSR 622, the Court laid down a series of nine principles for determining the rights of a contractor and his client in respect of ownership of copyr......
-
Got What You Paid For? Why Express Terms Transferring Copyright In Software Are Crucial
...will only imply terms necessary for the use of copyright by the commissioning party (established by Lightman J in Robin Ray v Classic FM [1998] FSR 622). This may result in the commissioning party receiving no rights at all or, at best, a limited non-exclusive licence to use the copyright i......
-
Court Of Appeal Upholds Copyright Infringement Finding for use of Photographs on Website
...were first submitted to MGN. In his leading judgment, the Chancellor, Sir Andrew Morritt, made reference to Robin Ray v Classic FM plc [1998] FSR 622, where it was held that any implied copyright licence would only extend to the use contemplated by the parties at the time of the engagement.......
-
Does An Implied Licence To Use Software Continue After The Extension Of An Initial Term Of A Services Agreement?
...have gone no further than the minimum necessary to enable FUK to enter into the services agreement (following Robin Ray v Classic FM [1998] FSR 622) and would have extended to include any extension of the contract that FUK was contractually bound to accept. Under the terms of the agreement,......
-
Intellectual property
...30(4). 20 Stovin-Bradford v Volpoint Properties Ltd [1971] 1 Ch 1007 at 1015, per Lord Denning MR. See also Robin Ray v Classic FM [1998] FSR 622; R Griggs Group Ltd v Evans [2005] EWCA Civ 11. 21 Copyright licences are considered below. 22 However, “[i]t may well be that, where the copyrig......
-
Management and Enforcement
...[4] [ Pecore ]. 70 Cyprotex v. University of Sheffield , [2003] EWHC 760 at [136]–[39] (Techn. & Constr. Ct.); Ray v. Classic FM plc , [1998] F.S.R. 622 (Ch.); Batey v. Jewson Ltd. , [2008] EWCA Civ 18 at [3] & [30]–[31]; Ifejika , above note 64 at [26]. 71 E.W. Savory Ltd. v. World of Gol......
-
Intellectual Property Law
...very detailed instructions of X, the court decided that X was a joint author even though he did not “push the pen”; Ray v Classic FM plc[1998] FSR 622, where it was emphasised that an author was the person who assumed “a direct responsibility for what actually appears on the paper”. Infring......
-
Intellectual Property Law
...the same reasoning, held that a contributor of ideas could not claim to be the joint author of a compilation. In Ray v Classic FM plcUNK[1998] FSR 622 (Classic FM), the plaintiff was engaged as a consultant by the defendant company to create a catalogue of classical music pieces for the pur......