Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder

Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder, 469 U.S. 153 (1985), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that if the author of a work authorizes derivatives, the terms negotiated in exchange for that grant stand even if the grant is later rescinded. If the copyright holder deputizes another person to authorize derivative works, the law draws no distinction between such works and those directly authorized by the copyright holder.

Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 9, 1984 Decided January 8, 1985
Full case name	Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder
Citations	469 U.S. 153 (more) 105 S. Ct. 638; 83 L. Ed. 2d 556; 1985 U.S. LEXIS 32
Holding
If the author of a work authorizes derivatives, the terms negotiated in exchange for that grant stand even if the grant is later rescinded. If the copyright holder deputizes another person to authorize derivative works, the law draws no distinction between such works and those directly authorized by the copyright holder.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority	Stevens, joined by Burger, Powell, Rehnquist, O'Connor
Dissent	White, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun

The case was a dispute regarding publishing royalties for the popular song "Who's Sorry Now?", which Mills Music had licensed (through mechanical licenses) to recording companies, who created records of the song, or derivative works; after the death of Ted Snyder, the song's composer, his heirs terminated the agreement with Mills Music. They believed that Mills was no longer entitled to its share in the royalties. Mills, through the Harry Fox Agency, sued in federal court in New York, where it won, but was overturned in the Second Circuit, before finally appealing to the Supreme Court, which granted certiorari in March 1984.

External links

• Text of Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder, 469 U.S. 153 (1985) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)