Brumley v. Albert E. Brumley & Sons, Inc

822 F.3d 926 (6th Cir. 2016)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Albert Brumley composed the song 'I'll Fly Away,' a gospel spiritual celebrating death and resurrection, while he worked in the Oklahoma cotton fields. Johnny Cash and Alison Krauss have covered the song, as have many others, and it can be heard on many a Sunday morning. Brumley sold his creation to a music publishing company, which copyrighted the song in 1932. Brumley purchased the company, bringing the song and its copyright home. Brumley started a music publishing company called 'Albert E. Brumley & Sons.' In 1975, Brumley and his wife Goldie sold Brumley & Sons to two of his sons, William and Robert, for $100,000, 'assigning and transferring . . . all of [the couple's] right title and interest' in the song. Brumley died in 1977. In May 1979, Robert and William obtained from Goldie a 'BILL OF SALE AND ASSIGNMENT.' 'In consideration of One Dollar . . . and other good and valuable considerations,' Goldie 'assigned and transferred . . . all the right, title and interest . . . in . . . all rights to obtain renewals or copyrights in the future upon Works written or composed by . . . Albert E. Brumley' to Brumley & Sons. Robert bought out William's interest in Brumley & Sons in 1986 for $246,500, becoming the sole owner of the copyright. Goldie died in 1988. In April 2008, Albert, Jr., Betty, Jackson, and Thomas-four of Brumley's children (Ps)-served a termination notice on their brother, Robert, to share in the lucrative rights in 'I'll Fly Away,' which generate roughly $300,000 a year in royalties. The termination notice purported to undo the 1975 assignment in which Brumley and his wife sold Brumley & Sons-and with it, the rights to the song-to William and Robert. The four siblings recorded the termination notice with the U.S. Copyright Office. In December 2008, Ps filed this lawsuit against D seeking a declaration that their termination notice was effective. D responded with two key defenses: (1) Albert's song was a 'work made for hire,' which is not eligible for termination, 17 U.S.C. § 304(c); and (2) Goldie relinquished any termination rights in the 1979 assignment to Robert and William. The district court ruled that Goldie did not extinguish the family's termination rights in 1979 and presided over a jury trial on the work-made-for-hire question. The jury ruled Ps and D appealed. appealed. The court reversed and required a new trial. The second trial gave the verdict to Ps. D appealed.