Mauro v Allentown High School, Upper Freehold Regional School District et al. 

     This is a description of the case as described by a third party who has consulted about the matter with parties representing both a plaintiff and the defendant. 

     Mr. Peter Mauro was the director of the Allentown (NJ) High School Marching Band for about 15 years.  He was removed from his position in January 2006 but was retained in a separate position in the school.  He had composed a medley of Irish music that the band has used and won with in parade competitions for several years.  The band performed this piece under the new band director at the 2006 New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which they won and received a monetary prize.

     Mr. Mauro is claiming copyright infringement against the high school, school district and other individuals and intends to sue for damages.  He argues that they illegally obtained the documents from his classroom when he was not allowed to remove them from there with the rest of his personal belongings.  He says that the composition does in fact belong to him since he is the arranger and the work is an original piece.  He also argues that the arrangement does not fall under the work for hire clause of the 1976 US Copyright Act since his job did not require him to write new music.  However there is a question of when exactly the music was given to the students; since Mr. Mauro is in the habit of giving the band their music in the fall semester to allow them to practice.  If they were given the music by Mr. Mauro the fact that he did not re-collect the music from his students could be seen as giving them permission to perform those works.

     The school district argues that because he is a teacher and that the music he wrote was used in the performance of his job then it must be a work for hire and the school can use it as they see fit.  They also say that Mr. Mauro was given time to protest the use of this piece prior to its performance and that he sees an opportunity to get back at the school for removing him from the director's position.

This case has not yet been filed in court and so there is no case number.

Shaul v Cherry Valley-Springfield School District et al. 363 F.3d 177; 2004 U.S. App.

    This case was filed by William Shaul against his former employer accusing them of illegally confiscating his personal property from his classroom.  Shaul was fired from his position as a teacher in the high school.  He was given permission to return to his office and classroom to remove his personal effects.  However he said that he wasn’t given enough time to get everything.  When he went back to get more he was not allowed in and when he tried to get the district to surrender his remaining effects he was not given them.  Shaul says that because the school didn’t give him enough time to remove his personal items they violated his fourth amendment rights to reasonable search and seizure.  Among the items he claimed were various photos and also his class notes and quizzes, which he claimed to own based upon the academic exception.  The court found in favor of the school district saying that in general enough time was given for him to remove his belongings.  And specifically they addressed his class notes saying that because he was not the author of the quizzes and that class notes were created directly from him performing his job they were the property of the school district under the work for hire clause.

     This case while only tangentially dealing with the academic exception does address the issue of whether Allentown High School took the score from Mauro's possession without his permission in Mauro v Allentown.  There are a few extenuating circumstances such as whether or not Mauro gave the sheet music to the students prior to his removal from his position.  And also the fact that Mauro was told not to remove any music when he was allowed to remove his personal belongings from his classroom could be a factor in the decision, however this is a remarkably similar case in which the school was the winner.