Entertainment Law Resources
- U.S. Copyright Act (United States Code, Title 17)
- Berne Treaty
- Lanham Act
- U.S. Copyright Office
- Forms for Registration of Copyright
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
- Forms for Trademark Application
- Entertainment & Sports Law Journal
- Recent Copyright Legislation News
- International Trademark Association
- Music Publishers’ Association’s Resource Links
- Copyright Clearance Center
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 50 (Instructions regarding registration of musical compositions)
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 56 (Instructions regarding registration of sound recordings)
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 56a (Discusses distinction between musical composition and sound recording copyrights)
- Copyright & Fair Use
- Copyright Myths Explained
- Copyright Website
- The Copyright Society of the USA
- R. Mark Halligan’s Trade Secrets Home Page
Nashville Record Labels
- Capitol Nashville
- Sony Music Nashville
- Warner Music Nashville
- Curb Records
- Universal Music Group Nashville
- Word Entertainment Group
Chart & Other Nashville Publications
- Billboard
- Billboard Top Country Albums
- Music Row Magazine
- The Nashville Scene
- Nashville Business Journal
- The Tennessean
Mechanical Rights Organizations
Performance Rights Organizations
- BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.)
- ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers)
- SESAC, Inc. (Privately Owned)
- The Harry Fox Agency (Mechanical Collection)
- Performing Right Society (England)
- MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) (England)
- GEMA (The German Authors’ Rights Society) (Performance and Mechanical Collection)
- Belgium Society of Authors, Composers & Publishers (Performance and Mechanical Collection)
- APRA (New Zealand & Australia Mechanical Collection)
- The Nordic Copyright Bureau (Norway Performance Rights)
- TONO (Norway Mechanical Collection)
- BUMA/STERMA
- (Dutch & Netherlands Copyright Society)
Other Music Industry Organizations
- Country Music Association
- GAC
- Nashville Songwriters Association, International
- Historic Ryman Auditorium
- World Intellectual Property Organization
- National Academy Of Recording Arts And Sciences (NARAS)
- Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
- National Music Publishers Association (NMPA)
- Songwriters Guild of America (SGA)
- National Academy of Songwriters (NAS)
- National Endowment for the Arts
- American Federation of Musicians (AFM) of the United States & Canada
- Nashville Musician’s Union (Local AFM)
- Electronic Music Foundation
Intellectual Property
Immigration and Counterfeit Enforcement Agency Brings Criminal Charges against Owner of ChannelSurfing.Net
By Barry Neil Shrum & Nathan Drake In November 2010, the Federal Immigration and Counterfeit Enforcement agency ("ICE") recently seized 82 websites and shut them down on the grounds that they were committing criminal copyright [...]
98% of all Statistics are Made Up on the Spot! Fact is, copyright infringement DOES kill jobs.
Mark Twain had a lot to say about statistics, ranking them as the highest of all lies: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Twain is also attributed with the more [...]
The Magical Ring of Gyges: Why Illegal Downloading is So Rampant in the Age of Cyberspace
NBC Universal recently hired a company called Envisional to study counterfeiting activity over the Internet. The results of this study – despite the fact that it is industry funded – are literally astonishing: 24% of [...]
Congress proposes Copyright Protection for Fashion Design
In response to concerns in the fashion industry, a bill originally introduced by Senators Schumer and Senator Clinton in 2006 has been revised and reintroduced to the new Congress as Senate Bill 3728. The new bill would amend Title 17 of the Copyright Act of 1976 of the United States Code to include copyright protection for "fashion design." If it passes, this would represent the first addition of a new protected class of copyrighted works since Congress passed the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act in 1989
Nothing left to lose – the ongoing war on copyrights
Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster once penned one of my favorite lyrics in the song Me and Bobby McGee, i.e., “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” The sentiment is perhaps appropriate for [...]
Thomas verdict vacated; new trial ordered
The trial in Capital v. Thomas was one of the first stories I began tracking over a year ago. See Jury Awards RIAA $222,000 against Thomas: My Thoughts on the Verdict and Jammie Thomas to [...]