Solutions for the Orphaned Works of Copyright: Google Books Decision Highlights Need for Action
The recent decision presented by the honorable Judge Chin on the matter of copyright infringement in the case The Authors Guild v. Google Inc. raised numerous issues in the arena of Intellectual Property. In addition to opposing the “opt-out” stipulation written into the settlement, Judge Chin also contested the way [...]
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 all global Internet traffic involves digital theft! Stated another way, one in every four people surfing the Internet are stealing [...]
The Limewire Ruling: New King of the Hill for Illegal Downloading Decisions
The U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against LimeWire and its parent company, Lime Group, finding them liable for inducement of copyright infringement based on the use of their service by subscribers. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood issued the 59-page decision Wednesday, siding with the 13 record companies that [...]
“Not Accepting Unsolicited Material”
What songwriters can do to protect their ideas when submitting demo tapes to publishers Every songwriter has heard the words “sorry, we’re not accepting unsolicited material” from at least a dozen publishers. In fact, in a recent informal survey conducted by Law On the Row, two-thirds of the thirty publishing companies contacted indicated that they [...]
HR 848 passes committee
Rep. John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee brought the Performance Rights Act (HR 848) up for markup this morning. HR 848 created no small amount of disagreement among radio broadcasters, minority broadcasters, trade unions and civil rights groups. However, a group of minority artists, including Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, Dionne Farris [...]
Politico’s interview with Corgan following his testimony before Judiciary Committee on HR 848
Link to Politico Interview As a follow up to my previous post on the subject, the radio widget above should play Politico’s interview with Smashing Pumpkin’s founder and frontman Billy Corgan following his testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee in support of HR 848, the Performance Rights Act. Corgan testified on Capitol Hill [...]
Judiciary Committee holds hearings on HR 848, the “Performance Rights Act”
The House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on H.R. 848 (this year’s version of HR 4789) tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Although the Committee’s website does not identify any witnesses at this time, I am informed by musicFIRST that Smashing Pumpkins’ founder Billy Corgan and Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the RIAA will be [...]
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 the ongoing war that is being waged against copyright laws as we know them. The latest battle in this war [...]
musicFIRST defends rights of artists
By Jennifer Bendall, Executive Director of musicFIRST Did you know that every time you hear your favorite artist’s hit songs over the airwaves he or she doesn’t receive a single penny from the radio stations broadcasting the song? Sounds crazy, right? While AM and FM music broadcasters rightly pay the writers of these songs, they [...]
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My Avvo.com rating is a perfect 10! Please take the time to check out my information there and, if you’re a past client or a colleague, give me a recommendation. It would be greatly appreciated. Barry Neil Shrum View lawyer’s profile
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 appeal verdict in RIAA Litigation. Now, in a decision issued on September 24, 2008 – only eight days shy of [...]
Sugarland Lawsuit filed in Georgia illustrates need for prior provisions among band members
On August 7th, a lawsuit was filed by Kristen Alison Hall, former member of the country band, Sugarland, against the remaining original members of the band, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush. A copy of the complaint can be viewed here. Essentially, the lawsuit alleges that Nettles and Bush breached a partnership agreement between the three [...]
Second Circuit gets it wrong in Cartoon Network v. Cablevision
On August 4, 2008, the Second Circuit court of appeals overturned a lower courts opinion that Cablevision’s Remote Storage” Digital Video Recorder (“RS-DVR”) system violated the Copyright Act by infringing plaintiffs’ exclusive rights of reproduction and public performance. The full 44-page opinion is available at Cartoon Network, LLP, et al. v. Cablevision. In my humble yet [...]
All that glitters is not gold – tips on analyzing a songwriting/band contest
When is the last time you heard of someone getting a really “big break” in the music industry through any contest, other than perhaps American Idol? That’s because most artists and songwriters are not discovered through contests, they are discovered through relationships in the industry. Yet, there are literally hundreds of such contests out there [...]
Hey, what’s the big idea? Protecting your ideas when submitting them to a third party.
One question clients often asked me is whether an idea can be protected. The question frequently arises when a client has an idea for a screenplay, or an outline for a story, or a unique title for a song or book, and wishes to submit or “pitching” that idea to a major movie house, publisher [...]
Why "Freeconomics" – and the Music Industry's Five Point Plan – won't work in the long term
There is a great deal of talk these days about the concept of “freeconomics,” spurned by the fact that most teenagers and college students are still ripping music and sharing it online. Most recently, the major record labels commissioned a study from two think tanks, The Leading Question and Music Ally, which resulted in a [...]
You Say You Want A REVOLUTION?
You say you want a revolution Well, you know We all want to change the world . . . You say you’ve got a real solution Well, you know We’d all love to see the plan You ask me for a contribution Well, you know We are doing what we can [...]
Fair is not always "Fair Use"
The concept of “fair use” is a very misunderstood concept. The first common misunderstanding that people espouse is that the concept of “fair use” is a right or privilege granted by copyright law. It is not. Secondly, many people mistakenly believe that so long as they do not make any money from an infringing use [...]
"More than a Feeling" – Momma, look what they’ve done to my song!
I received a call from one of my readers to address the topic of whether a songwriter has the ability to restrict the use of his or her composition in the instance it is being used in advancing a cause opposite to that espoused by the songwriter. This was spawned, of course, by the recent [...]
Atlantic Records et al. v. Brennan: Federal Judge Denies Default Judgment for RIAA
U.S. District Judge for the District of Connecticut Justice Janet Bond Arterton, handed down a very pointed and decisive opinion hammering the R.I.A.A. for its boilerplate style of pleading in the nationwide wide campaign against illegal file sharing. Justice Arterton was appointed by President Clinton in 1995. The full decision is here: Decision. At several [...]
New Copyright Legislation, H.R. 4279, being considered by House Committee on the Judiciary
The U.S. House of Representatives introduced a 69-page bill entitled the “Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007.” The legislation is significant in that it increases civil penalties for copyright infringement, expands criminal enforcement, and creates both a new federal agency and a new division of the Attorney General’s office of the [...]
Don't Mess around with Jim!
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, You don’t spit into the wind You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger And you don’t mess around with Jim These lyrics from Jim Croce’s classic pop song You Don’t Mess Around with Jim have evolved into pop culture expressions used by people the world over. [...]
Expert Witness Fund established to defend against RIAA Lawsuits
The Recording Industry v. the People, an anti-RIAA blog operat ed by New York attorney, Ray Beckerman, is cooperating with the Boston-based non-profit, The Free Software Foundation, to establish “a fund to help provide computer expert witnesses to combat RIAA’s ongoing lawsuits, and to defend against the RIAA’s attempt to redefine copyright law.” The Free [...]
The Magic Bubble Bursts: Did the Record Labels make their own grave?
For almost a decade now, the major labels (at the beginning there were five of them, now only four, EMI, Sony BMG, Vivendi Universal and Warner) have declared that illegal downloading is ravaging their business by destroying the sales of physical product. One may question this declaration, however, in few of the fact that ever [...]
