Opinion ID: 549828
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Was Ross's Contribution to the User Interface Copyrightable?

Text: 40 Appellants argue that the handwritten list of user commands Ross gave to Wigginton was a fixed expression of Ross's ideas, and as such was entitled to copyright protection. They contend that this list was used by Wigginton to help develop the user interface and therefore, Ross is a joint author of the interface portion of Full Impact. This argument is meritless for the reasons given in the district court's order, 728 F.Supp. at 602. The list simply does not qualify for copyright protection. 41 C. Did Ross's Copyrightable Contribution to the MacCalc Prototype Make Him a Joint Author of Full Impact? 42 Appellants also claim that Ross is a joint author of the Full Impact program on the basis of his contribution to the MacCalc prototype. They argue that because Ross contributed copyrightable expression to the MacCalc prototype by writing the engine portion of the program, he is a joint author of the prototype and that this gave him an undivided ownership interest in the entire prototype. Hence, they argue, Full Impact's use of the user interface portion of the MacCalc prototype made Ross a joint author of that program as well. 43 The district court focused on the user interface and Ross's contributions to it when determining appellants' joint authorship claim. This made sense, because this was the theory pushed by Appellants, and at the time the contribution requirement for authorship of joint works was not settled in this circuit. It is possible, however, to conceive of the entire MacCalc prototype as a joint work. Indeed, if Ross and Wigginton intended to create a joint work, and both contributed copyrightable material to the resulting work (the MacCalc prototype), then they may have both obtained an undivided interest in the entire work. 17 U.S.C. Sec. 201(a); 1 Nimmer on Copyright, Sec. 6.03 (1989). 44 In other words, Ross may have obtained a one-half ownership interest in the user interface and Wigginton may have obtained a one-half interest in the engine. We need not decide this issue now, however. Even assuming, arguendo, that Ross does have a one-half interest in the interface written by Wigginton, it does not follow that Ross is a joint author of the Full Impact program because its interface is derived from his and Wigginton's joint work. The Second Circuit's decision in Weissmann v. Freeman, 868 F.2d 1313 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 219, 107 L.Ed.2d 172 (1989), is a clear refutation of this position. Joint authorship in a prior work is insufficient to make one a joint author of a derivative work: [i]f such were the law, it would eviscerate the independent copyright protection that attaches to a derivative work that is wholly independent of the protection afforded the prexisting work. Id. at 1317. The analysis in Weissmann is sound, and we adopt its reasoning on this point. 45 Interestingly, the court in Weissmann also discussed the situation where a joint work is utilized or licensed for use in a derivative work by one of the co-authors of the joint work. In such a situation, no cause of action for infringement exists, because an individual cannot infringe his own copyright. The only duty joint owners have ... is to account for profits from [the joint work's] use. Id. at 1318. 46 This circuit made a similar ruling in Oddo v. Ries, 743 F.2d 630 (9th Cir.1984). There a co-owner of a copyright in an unpublished guide book had infringed the other co-owner's copyright by publishing a revised and expanded guide book that used much of the original unpublished one. We held that a co-owner cannot be liable for infringement of the copyright, and that each author has the independent right to use or license the copyright subject only to a duty to account for any profits he earns from the licensing or use of the copyright. Id. at 633. The duty to account for profits for use or licensing a joint work does not derive from the copyright law's proscription of infringement but it stems from equitable doctrines relating to unjust enrichment and general principles of law governing the rights of co-owners. Id. 47 Appellants discussed this theory for protecting their legal interest on the penultimate page of their response brief, where they state that [w]hether or not Ross is considered a joint author of the Full Impact, he is entitled to an accounting of the profits of Full Impact to the extent that the product utilizes his undivided ownership interest in the MacCalc user interface. This might be correct if Wigginton were the owner of Full Impact and appellants had sued him. However, because Wigginton presumably sold his services and the use of the user interface to Ashton-Tate for use in Full Impact, appellants at most have a right to a share of the proceeds Wigginton has received or receives for the use of the interface (assuming Appellants can prove that the prototype was a joint work Ross has an undivided ownership interest in and part of the work was used in Full Impact). 48 In short, it appears that Appellants have misframed the type of relief they could litigate with any possibility of success. While an author of a joint work does not acquire an authorship interest in derivative works that utilize part of the joint work, that author may be entitled to compensation for the use of the original joint work. The problem for Appellants in this appeal, however, is that such a claim for compensation is not a copyright claim. Furthermore, the claim would have to be against the alleged co-author Wigginton, because he was the person who allegedly allowed Ashton-Tate to use the user interface portion of the joint work for use in Full Impact. 49 We wish to clarify, however, the district court's statement that [b]ecause Ross only contributed ideas to the Full Impact interface, ... the program is not a 'joint work' between Ross and Wigginton. 728 F.Supp. at 602. While the court was correct to hold that the user interface is not a joint work as a result of Ross's contribution to the interface itself, the court did not resolve whether Ross's copyrightable contribution to the engine of the MacCalc engine entitled him to an undivided interest in the entire prototype, including the interface. We do not decide this question either, because it is unnecessary to the resolution of this appeal. 50 Thus we affirm the district court's order granting summary judgment on Ashton-Tate's request for a declaration that: (1) Ashton-Tate owns all the copyright interest in Full Impact; and (2) Full Impact does not infringe upon existing copyrights. Similarly, it was proper to enter summary judgment against Appellants' counterclaim for declaratory relief with respect to their copyright interest in Full Impact.