A composer’s claims in state court that his re-orchestration for “Peter Pan” starring the gymnast Cathy Rigby was improperly appropriated for later tours is in fact a copyright action, a state judge ruled, and thus not within the jurisdiction of the state courts.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich said composer Craig Barna’s action in Barna v. Rigby, 156405/2013, involved a a “classic copyright infringement” claim which “may only be asserted in federal court.”