Opinion ID: 755387
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Written Agreements with Third Parties

Text: 42 Just as the parties' written agreements with each other can constitute evidence of whether the parties considered themselves to be co-authors, see Gilliam v. American Broad. Cos., 538 F.2d 14, 22 (2d Cir.1976) (written screenwriters' agreement between the parties indicate that they did not consider themselves joint authors of a single work); Erickson, 13 F.3d at 1072 (licensing agreement evidences lack of co-authorship intent); see also Maurel v. Smith, 271 F. at 214-15 (contracts evidence co-authorship relationship), so the parties' agreements with outsiders also can provide insight into co-authorship intent, albeit to a somewhat more attenuated degree. 43 The district court found that Larson listed himself or treated himself as the author in the November 1995 revisions contract that he entered into with the NYTW, which in turn incorporated the earlier draft author's agreement that had not been signed. That agreement identifies Larson as Rent's Author and does not mention Thomson. It also incorporates the terms of a September 1995 draft agreement (termed Author's Agreement) that states that Larson shall receive billing as sole author. 25 The district court commented, moreover, that [t]he fact that [Larson] felt free to enter into the November 1995 contract on his own, without the consent of and without any reference to Ms. Thomson quite apart from whatever the terms of the agreements are, indicates that his intention was to be the sole author. 26 44