By Spencer Trowbridge, Swider Medeiros Haver LLP
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Online sales of music will likely surpass physical sales in the next few years, if not much sooner. There are a variety of royalties that may be associated with online music distribution. Online music distribution involves multiple rights, and the type(s) (and amount) of royalties that are typically [...]
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By Spencer Trowbridge, Swider Medeiros Haver LLP
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently granted summary judgment in favor of Verizon on the question of whether Verizon was liable for public performance fees for ringtones. [1] ASCAP, one of the primary performing rights organizations in the United States, had opposed Verizon [...]
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By Martin Medeiros
The United States of America established a government by the people to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”[1] So where in the Constitution of the United States do we [...]
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By Spencer Trowbridge, Swider Medeiros Haver LLP
If you play in a band or are involved in creating or performing music, an understanding of certain legal principles will (a) help you protect the rights you have, (b) help you stay out of trouble (by not infringing others’ rights), and (c) make you aware of steps you [...]
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By Spencer Trowbridge, Swider Medeiros Haver LLP
Songwriters commonly collaborate with other individuals. However, in situations where there is more than one contributor to a song, issues may arise concerning ownership. For a recent example, one need not look further than the recent case of Janky v. Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau[1], a case involving [...]
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by Kohel Haver
Partner, Swider Medeiros Haver
The publisher of a Harry Potter “Lexicon” was permanently enjoined from printing the book because they failed to establish that the publication would survive claims of copyright infringement and prevail on a fair use defense argument. The court awarded author J.K. Rowling $6,750 in statutory damages. Warner [...]
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Posted in Copyright on Oct 15th, 2008
By Kohel Haver
New Combined Registration Form CO
This last summer (August of 2008) the US copyright office revised its registration forms combining the various forms which previously required a separate filing for Literary Works TX, Visual Arts VA, Sound Recordings SR and Performing Arts PA (Compositions and Screenplays) into one form with a checkbox for each [...]
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Posted in Copyright, Media & Entertainment on Jul 31st, 2008
by Jeff Brown†
Artists who create sound or video recordings know that the low cost distribution mechanism, the internet, continues to change the industry. They also know these distribution contracts can be complex and are worthy of negotiation. The Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA), the Orchard, and the Digital Rights Agency (DRA) are among a [...]
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by Martin Medeiros
You read your morning mail. You notice a letter with the operative words “cease and desist,” “infringement,” or perhaps the more affable “invitation to license.” You think a “troll” has targeted you.
The pejorative term “patent troll” is often used to describe the sender of the type of letter described above. However, the term [...]
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Our annual intellectual property metrics show dramatic increases in some types of intellectual property grants and increasing litigation for copyright. Click here to look at all the data graphs.
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