|
|
#108
Pre-1972 Royalties on Recordings Protected, says Judge in
N.Y. High Court
• • Yes90 -
April 6, 2005 / New York's highest court ruled Tuesday that
common law protects a record company's copyright on
recordings made before 1972 -- a decision that could have
industrywide ramifications for everything from Bach to the
Beatles. That lawsuit involved..
• • New York's highest court ruled Tuesday
that common law protects a record company's copyright on
recordings made before 1972 -- a decision that could have
industrywide ramifications for everything from Bach to the
Beatles.
• • That lawsuit involved Franklin,
Tenn.-based Naxos of America Inc., which restored and
marketed 1930s classical records made in England by another
company, the Gramaphone Co., after the 50-year British
copyright had expired.
• • Hollywood-based Capitol Records Inc.,
which currently holds the rights to those recordings, sued.
• • A federal court dismissed Capitol's
suit, saying federal copyright law protected only recordings
since 1972, and Capitol had no common-law protections under
New York state law.
• • Capitol appealed the common-law finding
to the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled in its favor.
A federal appeals court will now rule on the company's
lawsuit using the state court's decision.
• • "I hope the companies who have been
inclined to copy older classical recordings realize the New
York court has spoken definitively on this and end any
unlicensed copying," said Philip Allen Lacovara, the
attorney for Capitol Records, of the 7-0 decision released
Tuesday. "It does have enormous importance."
• • He said the result was that artists,
their estates and others involved in recordings made before
1972 could collect royalties in the United States for their
performances.
• • Naxos, which bills itself as "the
world's leading classical music label," said it would
appeal.
• • "There's a certain insanity" to the
decision, said Naxos attorney Maxim Waldbaum, noting that
the court, for the first time, said copyright infringement
could be proved even if there was no bad-faith effort or
harm proved. He also said the law would prevent firms such
as Naxos from recovering and reintroducing lost works.
• • The New York court ruling applies to
all recordings marketed in New York even if no other state
or foreign law or common law was still in force, according
to the decision.
• • Most of the recordings at issue feature
classical performances, dramatic readings and oral
histories. But the court argument also included "British
invasion" rock and pop groups from the 1960s, some of which
will soon lose copyright protection under British law.
• • Tuesday's decision involved the 1930s
classical performances originally recorded on shellac discs
in England by Gramaphone, now known as EMI Records. In 1996,
EMI Group licensed exclusive U.S. marketing rights for the
original recordings to one of its units, Capitol Records.
• • The same year, Naxos began selling its
own restorations of the recordings.
• • ///
More Stories •
Converging
News 152005 / Buy Out and Merger Boom LookRadio
ByLines:
Editors Note
Respectfully
Submitted
Josie
Cory
Publisher/Editor
TVI Magazine
TVI Magazine,
tviNews.net, YES90, Your Easy Searh, Associated Press,
Reuters, BBC, LA Times, NY Times, VRA's D-Diaries, Industry
Press Releases, They Said It and SmartSearch were used in
compiling and ascertaining this Yes90 news report.
©1956-2005. Copyright. All rights
reserved by: TVI Publications, VRA TelePlay Pictures, xingtv
and Big Six Media Entertainments. Tel/Fax: 323
462.1099.
We Preserve The
Moment
Return
ˆ
To Top
|
|
We Preserve The
Moment
Yes90
tviNews
•
108 Pre-1972 Royalties
on Recordings Protected, says Judge in N.Y. High
Court /
Paul Allen
Television International Magazine's Person Of The
Week POW61 •
152005
- / PAUL ALLEN / Front Cover Vol
49-POW61
•
TVI 61
Cover Photo: Feature
Story
•
NEWS
Convergence - 15th Week of 152005
/
Smart90, s90tv, lookradio, tvimagazine, dv90,
vratv, xingtv, Ddiaries, nbs100, Look Radio, Josie
Cory, Television
With No Borders
|
|
|
|
Legal
Notices Copyright
Information
How
Do We Do Business?
Tel/Fax
323 462-1099
SEND
E-MAIL
Return
ˆ
To
Top
|
|
|
