OPINION
This is an action for copyright infringement by Jack Cortner and Jon Silberman against Robert Israel, Score Productions, Inc., American Broadcasting Music, Inc., and ABC Sports, Inc. (The latter two defendants will hereinafter be referred to as ABC.) Before this Court is the defendants’ motion to dismiss and for summary judgment.1
In 1976, ABC commissioned the plaintiffs to compose a musical theme for ABC’s Monday Night Football television program.2 The theme written by the plaintiffs was then used by ABC on the program from 1976 until 1979 and for part of 1980. Since the end of 1980, however, ABC has used a different, but similar, theme.
It is this latter theme about which the plaintiffs complain. They allege that it infringes the copyright on their theme, and they seek injunctive relief and damages. The defendants, on the other hand, argue, inter alia, that the plaintiffs have no standing to sue for copyright infringement because they assigned all legal and equitable right, title, and interest in the composition to ABC. For the reasons stated below, this Court agrees with the defendants.
Some courts have held that, under the 1909 Copyright Act,3 an assignor of a copyright who “mamtain[s] a beneficial interest under a publication contract [can] bring an infringement action against a third party ... if his assignee [refuses] to bring such an action, and ... if he join[s] the assignee as a party to the action.”4 3 M. Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright § 12.02, at 12-27 (1980) (footnote omitted). In Manning v. Miller Music Corp., 174 F.Supp. 192 (S.D.N.Y.1959), for example, two songwriters brought an action for infringement of the copyright on a song they had written. The court held that the songwriters had standing to sue because, even though they had assigned the copyright to a music publisher, they had equitable or beneficial ownership of the copyright as a result of the substantial rights reserved to them under their contract with the publisher. Id. at 197; see also Topolos v. Caldewey, 698 F.2d 991, 994-95 (9th Cir.1983) (author of a book who had assigned the copyright on the book to the book publisher was allowed to sue for copyright infringement).
The plaintiffs argue that they are like the plaintiffs in Manning and Topolos.5 The facts and circumstances surrounding the assignment of the plaintiffs’ rights, however, lead this Court to disagree and to conclude that the plaintiffs do not have an equitable interest in the copyright sufficient to grant them standing to sue for copyright infringement.
Silberman and Cortner retained far fewer rights than the plaintiffs in Manning and Topolos. In Manning,
*1219[t]he rights reserved to the plaintiffs include[d] (1) the right to receive royalties;
(2) a restriction on assignment of certain rights by the publisher, such as motion picture rights, without plaintiffs’ consent;
(3) limitation on publisher’s right to grant block or bulk licenses without the consent of the Songwriters Protective Association of which plaintiffs [were] members; (4) restriction on the publisher's right to grant licenses for television or for new purposes without plaintiffs’ written consent; (5) the right for a limited period to secure reassignment of the song and copyright if it [was] not made productive by the publisher; (6) specific reservation of renewal rights; (7) the right to share in any damages recovered in any infringement action; [and (8) the right to bring an infringement action if the publisher refused to do so].
Manning, supra, 174 F.Supp. at 195. In Topolos, the publisher was required to publish the book within one year after the manuscript was delivered; all rights, including the copyright, were to revert to the author if the book was not kept in print; and the author retained the right to royalties, the right to block the licensing of certain rights, and the right to bring a copyright infringement action if the publisher refused to do so.6 In this case, on the other hand, the plaintiffs assigned to ABC “all of their right, title and interest, both legal and equitable, [in the theme],” Shubert Affidavit, Exhibit B, cl. 2, in return for a fee, the right to receive royalties, and the right to share in any profits from an infringement suit. They retained no right to control future uses of the theme. They retained no right to reclaim ownership of the copyright if ABC was not making it productive. (Indeed, ABC was not obligated to make any use of the theme.) They retained no right to bring a suit for copyright infringement. In sum, when the contracts were executed, the theme became ABC’s “sole and exclusive property to do with as [it] wish[ed].” Id., Exhibit A, cl. 2.7
Moreover, in cases in which beneficial ownership has been found, it appears that the author assigned the copyright with the expectation that the assignee would exploit the work for their joint benefit. The plaintiffs’ relationship with ABC, however, was “essentially a one-shot deal” in which ABC commissioned the plaintiffs to write a theme song for use only on ABC’s Monday Night Football television program and agreed to underwrite the costs of producing the song, up to $9,000.8 As the defendants aptly point out, “[pjlaintiffs simply could not have had the same far-reaching expectations of ‘beneficial ownership’ going into, or even coming out of, this arrangement for services rendered with respect to the creation of the Monday Night Football theme as might the litigants have had in Manning and like cases.” Defendants’ Memorandum in Support of Their Motion at 5. See Bertolino v. Italian Line, 414 F.Supp. 279 (S.D. N.Y.1976).9
*1220This Court believes that the concept of beneficial or equitable ownership would be stretched a bit far if the plaintiffs in this case were allowed to sue for copyright infringement. Whatever rights the plaintiffs retained can be enforced in an action grounded in contract, not copyright. Accordingly, the defendants’ motion is granted and the action is dismissed.10
SO ORDERED.