A 21-year-old songwriter signed a contract in 1966 with a music publisher. The standard-form contract assigned the copyr
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 899603
- Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 8:13 am
A 21-year-old songwriter signed a contract in 1966 with a music publisher. The standard-form contract assigned the copyr
A 21-year-old songwriter signed a contract in 1966 witha music publisher. The standard-form contract assigned thecopyrights of all the plaintiff’s output to the defendant companyin return for the defendant’s agreement to pay 50 percent of thenet royalties to the plaintiff. The contract was to run for fiveyears, with automatic renewal for another five years if theplaintiff’s royalties during the first term exceeded 5,000 poundssterling. The defendant company could terminate the contract on onemonth’s notice and could assign the contract and any copyrightsheld under it without the plaintiff’s consent. For signing thecontract, the plaintiff received 50 pounds as an advance againstfuture royalties. The plaintiff became a successful songwriter andsought to be released from the contract on the ground that it wasunconscionably one-sided in the music publisher’s favor. Macaulayv. Schroeder Publishing Co. Ltd. (1974) 1 W.L.R. 1308 (H.L.). Useeconomics to analyze this case.