Milton H. Greene Archives, Inc. v. BPI Communications, Inc.
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Milton H. Greene Archives, Inc. appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment and attorneys’ fees in favor of BPI Communications, Inc. We affirm.
*573 The photographs at issue entered the public domain when Milton H. Greene permitted them to be distributed to magazines, newspapers, and local theaters. This was a general publication, not a limited publication, because “tangible copies of a work [were] ... made available to the general public.” Am. Vitagraph, Inc. v. Levy, 659 F.2d 1023, 1027 (9th Cir.1981) (quoting 1 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright § 4.04 (1978)). For the pictures at issue that were submitted to studios and publicists but were not used as broadly as the others or at all, the general publication doctrine still applies, because “an authorized offer [was] made to dispose of the work in any such manner even if ... such disposition [did] not in fact occur.” Id. (emphasis added). Distribution of the photographs was not a limited publication, because Greene provided the photographs with “the right of diffusion, reproduction, [or] distribution.” Id. (quoting White v. Kimmell, 193 F.2d 744, 746-47 (9th Cir.1952)).