Maljack Productions, Inc. v. Goodtimes Home Video Corp.

Maljack Productions, Inc. (“MPI”) alleges that GoodTimes Home Video Corp. (“Good-Times”) is violating copyright, trademark and California law by producing and selling videocassette recordings of the movie “McLin-tock.” The district court granted summary judgment for GoodTimes and awarded attorneys’ fees. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

MPI received a quitclaim interest in videocassette recordings of “McLintock” from Batjac Productions, Inc., which owned the copyright to the film. The “McLintock” motion picture copyright expired in 1991, and the film itself is public domain work. The music in the film was separately copyrighted, however, and is still protected by copyright law. GoodTimes’ rights derive from United Artists (“UA”), which owned the music copyrights.

MPI claims that it is the sole owner of the “synchronization rights” to the film, i.e., the right to synchronize the music with the film. MPI bases its argument on its interpretation of the 1962 contract between Batjac and UA. Batjac, the producer of the movie, licensed the motion picture rights to UA for seven years. The section conveying the motion picture rights contained a…