United States: Martha Graham Was a Work-For-Hire Author of Dance Choreographer

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that the work-for-hire doctrine applied to determine the ownership of copyrights in dances choreographed by the late Martha Graham, the founder of modern dance. Martha Graham School and Dance Foundation, Inc., et al. v. Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc., et al., Case No. 02-9451, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 17452 (2d Cir. Aug. 18, 2004).

Several years after Martha Graham’s death, her sole beneficiary and The Martha Graham School and Dance Foundation, Inc. sought a judgment from the district court declaring, among other things, that the plaintiffs owned the copyrights in 70 dances choreographed by Ms. Graham. The defendants Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc. (the center) and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, Inc. (the school) also asserted ownership of the disputed copyrights. The district court concluded that the defendants were entitled to a declaration of ownership of the copyrights for the choreography of 45 dances—27 because they were works-for-hire "authored" by the center for purposes of copyright proprietorship and 18 because Graham had assigned them to the center. The district court further concluded that the plaintiffs were entitled to a declaration of ownership of only the renewal term of copyright in one dance.

In affirming the majority of the district court’s ruling, the Second Circuit determined that the issue of whether Ms. Graham’s dances were "works-for-hire" under copyright law depended strictly on the nature of her employment agreements with the defendants. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ contention that the work-for-hire doctrine is inapplicable where a corporation is formed for the purpose of fostering a supportive environment for an employed artist to create new works. Because under the prevailing work-for-hire principles all of Ms. Graham’s dances created after 1966 were at the "instance and expense" of either the school or the center, the court concluded that these dances were works-for-hire and that the defendants were entitled to a declaration of ownership of the copyrights in these dances.

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