Page:Forward v. Thorogood (985 F.2d 604).pdf/1



Richard J. Shea with whom Kenneth M. Goldberg, Boston, MA, was on brief for appellant.

Gordon P. Katz with whom Kim E. Perry and Jay M. Fialkov, Boston, MA, were on brief for appellees.

Before CYR and BOUDIN, Circuit Judges, and HORNBY, District Judge.

BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment determining the copyright ownership of certain unpublished tape recordings of the musical group George Thorogood and the Destroyers (the “Band”). The district court ruled that the Band held the copyright to the tapes and enjoined appellant John Forward from making commercial use of the recordings. We affirm.

The basic facts can be briefly stated. Forward is a music aficionado and record collector with a special interest in blues and country music. In 1975, Forward was working as a bus driver when he first met Thorogood at a Boston nightclub where the Band was performing. Forward was immediately taken with the Band’s act and struck up a friendship with Thorogood. Thorogood and his fellow band members, a drummer and a guitar player, had been playing together at East Coast colleges and clubs since 1973.

Upon learning that the Band had yet to release its first album, Forward began a campaign to persuade his friends at Rounder Records to sign the Band to a recording contract. Rounder Records is a small,