Durgom

According to the complaint in this action, defendant David J. Janowiak has failed to make payments to plaintiff John A. Durgom pursuant to an assignment of royalties from the copyrighted song, Nature Boy. After the parties had entered into an oral settlement agreement, on the record in open court, Janowiak moved to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Janowiak asserted that, as a matter of federal law, the beginning of the renewal term had revested the copyright in the author and had cut off Durgom’s alleged right to receive royalties. Janowiak urged that the presence of this issue in the case invoked exclusive federal copyright jurisdiction.

The trial court agreed. It therefore refused to enforce the settlement agreement, and it dismissed the case. In doing so, it erred. Federal case law—much of it handed down by the United States Supreme Court—makes it clear that federal jurisdiction cannot be based solely on a federal defense. This is true even where the parties agree that the federal defense is the only disputed issue to be resolved. State courts are fully competent to adjudicate state-law breach of contract claims, even where the underlying…