An Empirical Study of Case Law Relating to 17 U.S.C. § 203

Abstract

This paper provides a study of court decisions on the termination right under the Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C. § 203) up to the end of 2022. This provision permits creators to unilaterally end post-1977 copyright assignments or exclusive licenses after, in most cases, 35 years, and has been subject to heated debates in the literature. The growing body of case law relating to § 203 is a useful data source from which trends can be drawn to inform practice (enabling creators, publishers, agents and other industry participants to better understand how termination applies) and research (highlighting trends which can be compared against existing literature, like economic projections, and serve as indicators of future research pathways). This study uses popular legal research databases Lexis Advance and Westlaw to identify relevant cases. It then provides an analytical chronology of the cases, categorizing cases according to their decades and the § 203 issues they discuss. The study then draws out implications for practice and policy from the results.