In response to my last post on remixing versus remastering, Kevin Erickson of the Future of Music Coalition helpfully pointed out some further nuances in the distinction between the two.
Should new digital versions of classic old analog recordings sound essentially the same as the originals, or provide a fresh take on them?
For some record labels with valuable old sound recordings, licenses that should have established the labels’ decisions on this important business and aesthetic question appear to have gone missing. Or were not submitted in evidence because they were unhelpful. But this crucial gap in the record allowed a federal court in California to rule in favor of a bold theory of defendants CBS Corporation and CBS Radio, Inc.: post-1972 remasterings of pre-’72 sound recordings with the modicum of originality required after Feist get their own sound recording copyright and thus can be broadcast under the federal compulsory license rules. This is in sharp contrast to the direct negotiated license required for pre-’72 recordings governed solely by state copyright laws.
With a federal court in New York now considering a companion case, and the possibility of appeal in the California case–not to mention the stakes for the huge back catalog of pre-’72 recordings that have been remastered since then–it’s important to get this right. But it is a complex matter that sits at the confluence of multiple areas of technical detail.
[Updated with more accurate embed and analysis of fourth descending tone in Stairway to Heaven]
Jimmy Page brought his guitar to court today.
He’s defending his guitar part composition that forms the basis of the iconic Stairway to Heaven from allegations of copyright infringement. The estate of “Randy California” (Randy Wolfe) is suing Led Zeppelin on the basis of copying California’s Taurus that admittedly has a very similar sounding guitar part midway into the song.
Page et al are defending in part on lack of access. Even though they toured with California’s band “Spirit” before writing Stairway, Page claims to have never heard the song until his son-in-law told him some people on the internet were comparing the songs a few years ago. Page admits to even having some of Spirit’s albums, but none which contain Taurus.
I’m more interested in how Page and Zeppelin will defend against substantial similarity, assuming access to Taurus is established.
Recently I spoke on digital first sale at the 2014 Asia-Pacific IP Forum, an annual event that rotates amongst the partner law schools including UW, Seoul National University, East China University, and others. The event was hosted in Seoul Korea this year by SNU.
Slides of my presentations are linked below.
The media is treating the TTAB’s cancellation of 6 of the Redskins’ trademarks as if this is the end of the name/mark (pending appeal).
http://nyti.ms/1l2Wela
But, as the TTAB itself points out, federal registration is not the totality of trademark protection. Should the Redskins desire to continue using the marks/name–even if they appeal the TTAB decision and lose–they can enforce under state registration and/or common law rights. This is certainly more onerous than having nationwide federal rights. And it runs the risk that there might be some senior users in particular jurisdictions. But there are plenty of state-based marks used as brands out there. A good sign is whether the mark is identified by “™” or “SM” rather than ®. The latter may only be used for federally registered marks.
http://www.uspto.gov/news/USPTO_Official_Fact_Sheet_on_TTAB_decision_in_Blackhorse_v_Pro_Football_Inc.pdf
Thus, whether one likes the name or not, nothing about this TTAB decision itself forces Dan Snyder and the Redskins to abandon the mark/brand.
RSS
Twitter