Intellectual Property News and Reports

LOUIS F. OBERDORFER, District Judge.

This case marks the third chapter in this court of the dispute as to who is the rightful owner of the works of the renowned modern dancer Martha Graham, who died in 1991 at the age of 96. Previously this court largely affirmed the district court ruling that during her lifetime Graham transferred the rights to almost all of her works to the Martha Graham Center, but remanded the question of ownership of seven specific dances. On remand, the district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial and found that the Center also owns the seven dances. For reasons stated below, we affirm.

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