11th Cir. Pattern Jury Instr. (Civil) 9.14

[Plaintiff] claims co-ownership of [title of the asserted work] as an author of

the work jointly with [name of alleged joint author]. To find that [Plaintiff] is the

author of a joint work, [Plaintiff] must prove:

(a) the work was prepared by the contributions of [Plaintiff] and at

least one other author; and

(b) each of the authors had the intention that their contributions be

merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole.

The contributions of each author do not need to be equal, but each author

must contribute original expression.

An example of joint ownership is: where one author creates lyrics and

another author creates music, each intending their works to be incorporated into the

same song, that song is a joint work.

SPECIAL INTERROGATORIES TO THE JURY

1. Did the Plaintiff and [name of alleged joint author(s)] each

contribute original expression that was merged to form inseparable or

interdependent parts of the work as a whole?

Answer Yes or No _____________

2. Did Plaintiff and [name of alleged joint author(s)] each have the

intention that their contributions to [title of the asserted work] be merged

into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole?

Answer Yes or No _____________

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