Stewart v. Abend

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Stewart v. Abend
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 9, 1990 Decided April 24, 1990
Full case name	Stewart et al. v. Abend, DBA Authors Research Co.
Citations	495 U.S. 207 (more) 110 S. Ct. 1750; 109 L. Ed. 2d 184; 1990 U.S. LEXIS 2184; 58 U.S.L.W. 4511; 14 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1614; Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) ¶ 26,557
Case history
Prior	Abend filed suit in District Court, S. Dis. of NY, settled; filed again, District Court, C. Dis. of CA, court granted Stewart's sum. judg. motion based on fair use and Rohauer v. Killiam Shows, Inc., 551 F.2d 484, denied other motions; both parties appealed, Ninth Circuit reversed, Abend v. MCA, Inc., 863 F.2d 1465, 1472 (1988); cert. granted, 493 U.S. 807 (1989).
Holding
The Court held that the successor copyright owner's right to permit the creation of a derivative work passes to the heirs of the author of the work, who are not bound by the original author's agreement to permit such use.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Case opinions
Majority	O'Connor, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Kennedy
Concurrence	White
Dissent	Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, Scalia
Laws applied
Copyright Acts of 1909 and 1976

Stewart v. Abend, 495 U.S. 207 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court decision holding that a successor copyright owner (one who obtains ownership later on, such as the heirs of a copyright owner who dies) has the exclusive right to permit the creation and exploitation of derivative works, regardless of potentially conflicting agreements by prior copyright holders.^[1]