Opinion ID: 755387
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Independently Copyrightable Contributions

Text: 25 Childress held that collaboration alone is not sufficient to establish joint authorship. Rather, the contribution of each joint author must be independently copyrightable. See 945 F.2d at 507. It noted that this is the position taken by the case law and endorsed by the agency administering the Copyright Act. Id.; see Seshadri v. Kasraian, 130 F.3d 798, 803 (7th Cir.1997); M.G.B. Homes, Inc. v. Ameron Homes, Inc., 903 F.2d 1486, 1493 (11th Cir.1990). 26 Without making specific findings as to any of Thomson's claims regarding lyrics or other contributions, the district court concluded that Thomson made at least some non-de minimis copyrightable contribution, and that Thomson's contributions to the Rent libretto were certainly not zero. 14 Once having said that, the court decided the case on the second Childress prong--mutual intent of co-authorship. It hence did not reach the issue of the individual copyrightability of Thomson's varied alleged contributions (plot developments, thematic elements, character details, and structural components).