In a squabble between two psychologists over rights to books about "explosive" children, the First Circuit weighed in this summer with an opinion holding that a work of authorship under the Copyright Act can be simultaneously both a "joint work" and a "derivative work." The case is Greene v. Ablon, 794 F.3d 133 (1st Cir. 2015).
The plaintiff, Dr. Ross Greene, pioneered a method for treating children with "explosive" behaviors, known as the Collaborative Problem Solving ("CPS") approach. Dr. Greene worked for many years at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he conducted research, saw patients, and ran the Collaborative Problem Solving Institute. Dr. Greene published a book in 1998 titled The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children.
Dr. Greene's protégé, Dr. Stuart Ablon, worked with Greene to develop the CPS approach and disseminate it via various organizations that the two co-founded. In 2005, Greene and Ablon published a book they had co-authored titled Treating Explosive Kids, which, unlike Greene's earlier work, was directed not to a lay audience but to mental health professionals. Although the two had agreed to be joint authors and to collaborate in preparing the new book, Greene alleged that Ablon in fact shirked his duties and contributed very little.
Proceedings in the District Court
MGH terminated Greene's employment in January 2009, shortly after having installed Ablon in his place as director of the CPS Institute (by then rebranded as Think: Kids). In June 2009, Greene sued Ablon, alleging that certain PowerPoint presentations Ablon had developed infringed Greene's copyright in both his earlier book, The Explosive Child, and their co-authored...
