Factual background
The plaintiff Hovsep Pushman was an artist that finished a work entitled ''When Autumn is Here'' in 1930. That same year, Pushman gave the painting to Grand Central Art Galleries to arrange a sale of the work. Upon giving the painting to Grand Central Art Galleries, Pushman did not negotiate any reservation reproduction rights. Grand Central Art Galleries sold the painting to theDecision
The court first recognized that the copyright in a work exists separately from the tangible embodiment of the work. But on the authority of the case ''Parton v. Prang'', the court held that to reserve the copyright when the sole tangible embodiment of the work is transferred, the author must make an express reservation at the time of the transfer. The court held that Pushman's sale was unconditional because he did not expressly reserve any rights at the time of the transfer.Impact
The holding in ''Pushman'' created what was subsequently termed the ''Pushman'' presumption, which required an author to expressly reserve rights when transferring the chattel that embodied a work or risk transferring the rights as well. The holding in ''Pushman'' was criticized and subject to various statutory and judicial limitations. ''Pushman'' was abrogated by ยง 202 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which establishes that the transfer of a tangible embodiment of a copyrighted work does not of itself transfer the copyright. Robert A. Gorman and Jane C. Ginsburg, ''Copyright Cases and Materials, Seventh Edition.'' Foundation Press, New York: 2006, p. 73References
{{reflist United States copyright case law 1942 in United States case law New York (state) state case law 1942 in New York (state)