Fueled in part by its success in Virgin v. Thomas, the RIAA (on behalf of EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group) issued a new round of pre-litigation letters to college students across the country Thursday of last week. This is its ninth such round of letters since beginning [...]
Section 101 of the United States Copyright Act defines work for hire at as follows: (1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or (2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture [...]
The "Star Power" theory of damage reduction in copyright infringement actions Most consumers instantly recognize brand names such as Coca-Cola®, Nabisco®, Frito-Lay®, and Sony®. As a result of their prior purchasing experience with these brands, a consumer is much more likely to purchase a new brand of cookies bearing the Nabisco®® label than they are [...]
This article originally appear in the print edition of Law on the Row, Volume 2, Issue 1 on September 9, 2002. Imagine two musical works written in a minor key using a standard jazz progression such as I-IV-II-V. Further imagine that Work B is alleged to be an infringement of Work A. The author of [...]
What songwriters can do to improve their negotiating strength in an entertainment deal A very common theme among my songwriter and artist clients is the subject of how they were "ripped off" by their record label and/or music publisher (for purposes of this general publication, I'll refrain from using the actual, more vivid terms often [...]
This article first appeared in the print edition of Law on the Row, Volume 2, Issue 1, on March 21, 2001 Hillary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (""RIAA"), called RIAA’s legal victory over Napster, the mega-MP3 file trading site, a "clear victory for all creators." While the efforts of the record industry [...]
