Identical Use Of Permissible Copyrighted Work Privileged In Collective Work

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in a case destined to be widely cited, held that copyrighted work can be reproduced in a collective work if it is a work that collectively uses material originally published with permission it and uses the identical selection, coordination and arrangement of the work as in the original work. Greenberg v. National Geographic Society, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 13832 (June 30, 2008).

Appellant National Geographic Society is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization that has published a monthly magazine since 1888. Appellee Jerry Greenberg is a freelance photographer, some of whose photographs were published in four issues of the National Geographic Magazine, specifically the January 1962, February 1968, May 1971 and July 1990 issues. Greenberg regained, after publication, ownership of the copyrights he originally assigned to National Geographic.