Hal Roach Studios, Inc., a Delaware Corporation v. Richard Feiner and Company, Inc., a New York Corporation

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

This case involves the worldwide television rights to a number of Laurel and Hardy silent films (“the silent subjects”). Appellee’s predecessor in interest, Hal Roach, Inc., and appellant Richard Feiner and Company, Inc. (“Feiner & Co.”) entered into a written agreement to license the television rights to certain of the films to Feiner & Co. for a ten year period with an option to renew the license agreement for a second ten year term. Feiner & Co. subsequently exercised the option.

In 1984 appellee Hal Roach Studios, Inc. (“Hal Roach Studios”) filed a complaint [*1545] against Richard Feiner, [1] individually, and Feiner & Co. seeking a declaration that the licensing agreement would expire on or about September 27, 1986, and that Hal Roach Studios had valid copyrights to the films. Feiner & Co. answered, asserting affirmative defenses, and counterclaimed. Feiner & Co. sought reformation of the contracts based on mutual mistake. The mutual mistake alleged was that the parties had intended the license agreement to continue in effect until the copyrights to the silent subjects had expired and those subjects had entered the public domain. At the time the parties entered into the licensing agreement, the copyrights were due to expire around 1986. However, enactment of the Copyright Act of 1976 extended the duration of the copyrights well beyond that time.