James H. Griffith, Jr., dba CJ's Sports Bar, et al. v. Joe Hand Promotions, Inc.

I. Whether the plain language of the U.S. Copyright Act (“Act”) authorizes the exclusive licensing of rights under the Act in an idea of a work of authorship before that idea is fixed in a tangible medium. II. Whether the plain language of the U.S. Copyright Act permits the copyright owner to assign a bare right to sue for copyright infringement to a third party. III. Whether a federal court of appeals, in the course of de novo review of a grant of summary judgment for defendant under Rule 56, may sua sponte interpret and rely on evidence in the record to support its reversal for plaintiff when the parties did not discuss, argue the importance of, or even specifically cite this evidence to support their positions in either their 1) summary judgment filings or 2) written briefs on appeal.