We spend a significant amount of time on this blog discussing entertainment law, including copyright law. The legal protections afforded to copyright holders are significant, but they must be policed to counteract infringement. This can be challenging to do,...
Copyright Law
Senate considers aggressive law to deal with streaming piracy
Many of us remember a time not long ago when peer-to-peer file sharing sites like Napster threatened to financially ruin the music industry. While the law has clamped down on illegal downloading for copyright violations, the market has changed in response. Although...
Copyright law and the mechanical license
An individual who creates a musical composition or lyrics automatically obtains a copyright over those works. This instills that individual with a number of rights, including the right to record and sell the composition, license it for use in commercials and film and...
What is the difference between fair use and public domain?
If you produce art or entertainment in the United States, your copyrighted work is protected from entering the public domain for a certain number of years. In 2019, the largest amount of previously copyrighted work will enter the public domain where anyone will be...
Copyrighted works are entering the public domain again
Copyright law has kept many works from the public domain for a long time, but several copyrights are expiring for the first time in many years. Effective January 1, all works published in the United States in 1923 will enter the public domain. This is significant news...
When does inspiration spill over into copyright infringement?
Many copyright infringement cases for musician's hinge on what exactly is infringement and what is not. At what point do songs go from having similarities to all out copyright infringement? If you were to ask many of the creative people behind the music, they would...
Understanding fair use: When is it ok to use my work?
As an artist or creator, you take great pleasure in seeing the effect your work has on others. Unfortunately, there are numerous people out there who do not understand the difference between inspiration and plagiarism. When someone tries to replicate or sell your work...
On copyright, publishing and nom-de-plumes
What do Mary Ann Evans, Eric Blair and Ted Geisel have in common? They are all the real people behind famous pseudonyms (George Eliot, George Orwell and Dr. Seuss respectively.) The pen name is a classic strategy for writers who want to keep their public lives and...
Is graffiti art protected under the Visual Artists Rights Act?
By its very nature, graffiti art is often public, immovable and temporary. And the artists that specialize in this medium frequently believe that these characteristics make graffiti art exempt from copyright protection. However, a recent ruling issued by a U.S....
Are Ideas Getting More Expensive?
In terms of U.S. productivity growth, optimists and pessimists may disagree on a whether renewed resources and innovation are just around the corner. But the one thing they should agree on is that new ideas are getting more expensive.Consider that during the 1950s and...