Recent Development by Denise M. Lang
George Rodrigue and Veronica Hidalgo were married in 1967 and elected to live under Louisiana's community property regime of acquets and gains during their marriage. While married to Veronica, George became an acclaimed and successful painter known for works containing the Blue Dog image. George and Veronica's marriage and the community terminated in 1993.
After their marriage ended, George Rodrigue filed an action in federal court seeking a declaration that he was the sole owner of the intellectual property rights to all his paintings, particularly those featuring the Blue Dog image. Veronica filed a counterclaim seeking a declaration that she was the owner of an undivided one-half interest in all the intellectual property rights generated during the community and all derivations of that intellectual property generated after the dissolution of the community. The district court granted summary judgment to George, holding that federal copyright law preempted Louisiana state community property law. The district court conceived of a solution it believed would allow community property law to coexist with copyright law, in which the author-spouse retains sole management and control without depriving the nonauthor-spouse of “more tangible” economic benefits. However, the district court held that the courtroom was not the appropriate place for crafting the intersection between state community property law and federal copyright law, and therefore demurred to Congress to decide whether to adopt its proposed solution.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded, taking the opportunity to adopt the district court's proposed solution and holding that no congressional intercession was necessary. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a copyright vests in the author-spouse, who maintains exclusive managerial control of the copyright, but that the economic benefits of the copyright belong to the community; and because Louisiana community property law is not in conflict with federal copyright law with respect to those economic benefits, federal copyright law does not preempt Louisiana community property law as to those benefits. Rodrigue v. Rodrigue, 218 F.3d 432, 435 (5th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 1227 (2001).
About the Author
Denise M. Lang.
Citation
76 Tul. L. Rev. 541 (2001)