...industry covers mostly fields that offer entertainment as a primary product. Fields such as film, music, fine arts, dance, literary publishing, Broadcasting, sports etc. They all share a common interest of profiting from creative works or services provided by artists. Much of work of entertainment law practice is transaction based. Litigations often occur as a result of common and recurring mistakes that are made during negotiations and drafting. In the entertainment industry hundreds of legal relationships are created every day and having a sound knowledge of common issues in the industry is critical in negotiating a deal and drafting a good contract. CONTRACTS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY Personal Service Agreement (PSA) Promoting a product or a service involves investing a lot of time and money, with the expectation of return on investment. The possibility that the product or service will not achieve the expected success or any success at all introduces a risk factor. A great majority of artists do not have the resources necessary to promote their products or services; they instead use intermediaries that invest time and money and bear the risk of loss. These intermediaries are known as “Entertainment Producers”. These Entertainment Producers invest time and money in selling the Artist’s talents or products to the consumer. Film Distribution Companies, Film Studios and Music Recording Companies...
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...RIAA and Associated Record Companies: Embrace the Digital Music Era Our forms of music have drastically changed in correlation to current cultural advances. We have gone from vinyl records to cassettes, which were very popular in the 1970s followed by the revolutionary digital technology of a compact disc. Now, we are in an era that is progressively becoming more and more digitized with different audio formats through the Internet. Every day, thousands of people with a computer or access to one participate in peer-2-peer networks to share digitized formats of music, videogames, movies or other applications (“Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing”). The shift of music from compact discs to mp3’s has financially affected the music industry. Not only is money lost on the decreasing sales of outdated CD’s, but also on litigation circling the issues of copyright. Any downloaded music, videogames, movies, or applications from peer-2-peer networks sites are protected by copyright law and once downloaded are now considered copyright infringed. Over the years, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its associated record companies have taken much time and spent a good amount of money to conduct investigations and prosecute individuals involved in illegal music file sharing and copyright infringement. However, the Internet has proven to move faster than the prosecutions of individuals responsible for illegal music downloading, which, in the long run, has had very little effect...
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...Most modern musicians take sheet music for granted. Sheet music abounds in printed form and can even be downloaded from the Internet. It's a far cry from the days of oral tradition. Centuries ago, there were few ways to pass on music other than to "hum a few bars" until the listener caught on. The available manuscripts had to be painstakingly marked out by a transcriptionist and were limited in number. In fact, while many songs were known on a wide scale, they were likely spread about by travelling minstrels and troubadours. They were certainly not available in printed form at the local music shop. Prior to the invention of the printing press in the mid 15th century, very few private citizens owned or had access to sheet music. The ones in...
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...Effects of Illegally Downloading Music The concept of downloading music has been around since the late 1990s, around the time when we started seeing networking sites appear on the internet. These sites allowed users to post and share music and software files with other users, usually at no cost. Most artists rely on their music careers for sole financial support. With the increase of illegal music downloading, artists lose out on income, it prevents future artists from wanting to pursue a career in the music business and in some cases cause them to miss out on contracts. Illegal music downloading also places the individual at risk for criminal charges. The amount of illegal downloading that occurs today makes it even harder for some musicians to make a living from their music. If artists are not able to make a profitable amount of money in the music industry, the number of people wanting to continue or pursue music will be greatly reduced. With online communities dedicated to sharing music, this trend does not seem as though it will end anytime soon. Once a part of these communities, individuals can and will acquire (whether by paying or for free) the music and turn around and share it with friends and family members. Illegal downloading and sharing is the reason for loss of income in the music industry. Global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year (RIAA - Anti Piracy, 2014). If the amount of money that goes in to the music industry is not coming in, artists...
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...Introduction: Intellectual Property and The Copyright Industries in the Digital Age. Intellectual Property is the expression of an idea in the form of a material. Any product that is distinguished with its unique value becomes entitled to a protection by law. There are three different types of intellectual protection; patents for inventions, trademarks for names, logos, devices and etc. that are used in trading and lastly copyrights to protect copyright owner’s work from infringement securing exclusive rights to reproduce, to distribute and to obtain commercial profit. However there are four stages that each work has to proceed to qualify for the copyright protection; 1. According to the section 1(1) of Copyright Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988, the product must fall in one of these work categories: - Primary Works: Literary Works, Dramatic Works, Musical Works and Artistic Works - Secondary or Derivative Works: Sound Recordings, Films, Broadcasts and Published Editions. 2. The expression of the idea in other words the creation must be in a recorded form. This only applies to the works of literature, drama and music. 3. Works must be “original”. Originality is measured by skill, effort, talent and labour put in to the product during the creative process. 4. The author and the work must show a sufficient connection to the UK to gain protection under UK law. All of the businesses that exploit a commercial...
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...Progress Report 2: The Challenges in the Publishing Industry A. We have chosen to cover the issue of the challenges in the publishing industry. First we will examine what is copyright law and how it encourages the creation of published works while limiting the accessibility to those works. In fact, copyright laws protect artists from having their works stolen or copied and sold for lower costs, and therefore guarantee them certain revenue. The monetary incentive increases the creation of music, movies and literature. However, those same laws limit the accessibility to these works. People who don’t have means to pay for entertainment and cultural works are deprived from it. In the field of education, author copyrights may sometimes get in the way of the learning process. It comes back to the question: should access to cultural works be free for all to access or should it be a consumer good? B. We want to interview a range of different people with different views about the subject. We will ask questions to one university professor and one Cegep literature teacher, to one young musician, to four university students, to four people from 25 to 40 years old and to four people from 40 years old and up. The questions we will ask them: 1. Describe what you think Copyright Law is? 2. Do you think it is normal to pay for a) music, b) movies and c) literature works? Why do you think so? 3. Do you think artists should get paid for what they actually do (create cultural works) without...
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...Intellectual Property: Copyright Gone Wrong Bradlee Melton American InterContinental University Abstract Copyright is a form of intellectual property pertaining mostly to the creative arts such as music, novels, paintings, drawings, and film. When copyright was first created, its duration was fourteen years. In the past three hundred years since its creation, copyright duration has been extended several times. The last of these extensions extended copyright duration to the life of the creator plus seventy years, making copyright almost perpetual. In this modern age of lightning fast computing, copyright law is outdated and needs to be drastically reconsidered. Many have turned to the open source movement to try to escape the tyranny of copyright. Through the open source movement, several high-quality products have been produced and given to the public free of charge, whether it is music or software. Congress has made no effort to remedy the situation at hand. This essay poses the question: With copyright gone wrong, what do the people do? Intellectual Property: Copyright Gone Wrong Intellectual property or IP pertains to creations of the mind. It is broken down into two subcategories: industrial property and copyright. Industrial property includes inventions, trademarks, and other things used for industrial commerce, while copyright involves anything of the literary or artistic fields such as poems, novels, music, drawings, and paintings (WIPO, 2012)...
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...gotko1rm CRN: 2205479 First Name: Rachel Last Name: Gotko Intellectual Property Rights in Music: The Napster Issue Starting in the year 1999, a company called Napster opened up a whole new world to the Internet where every song ever made was instantly available to you on your computer for free. It was created by an 18-year-old Northeastern University student named Shawn Fanning. Napster transformed personal computers into servers that shared mp3 files all across the Internet (Mayer, 2008). It became popular very quickly because exchanging mp3 files freely and having any music desired right at your fingertips had never been possible before. However, this program that provided the privilege of having free instant music to download did not last long, it was shut down after just two years by court order. The fact that it was a peer-to-peer file sharing system (p2p) brought up a lot of legal issues and was what turned Napster into a huge copyright infringement operation by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) (Mayer, 2008). Music artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre were upset that their songs were available to Napster users that hadn’t even been officially released yet (2001). According to the court, Napster users were in violation of copyright infringement along with Napster itself as well. Thousands of lawsuits were filed again users caught illegally downloading music and Napster was officially ordered to be shutdown on July 26 2000 (Wikipedia). According to...
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...Digital Media Copyright in Developing Countries In the developing world, piracy is a serious problem. According to the report “Why Poor Countries Lead the World in Piracy”, “Trade reps from rich countries complaining loudly about copyright infringement and demanding that poor countries reorganize their domestic priorities around preventing unauthorized copying at any expense, threatening trade sanctions and worse for the recalcitrant." However, the copyright laws in many developing countries still give little consideration to copyright management issues for Digital Media Fields, such as software, E-book, music downloads, and digital cinema. As the biggest sources of illegal download in the world, developing countries’ digital media technology is seriously hindered. At the same time, some people argued that the tolerant digital media copyright law helps to bring culture and knowledge to people. I believe it is a mistake, as they may not understand Fair Use. In the case of China, according to Liu & Bates, “China copyright law focuses more on the regulations for traditional forms of creative content than the digital fields” (Liu & Bates, 2008). However, according to China Internet Network Information Center’s report, “the number of “netizens” in China has exceeded that of the United States” (2008). At the same time, China has become one of the biggest illegal downloads sources. As a result, China has responsibility to pay attention to digital rights management. A strong...
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...licensing agreement with Johnny Singstealer. Please write a one-page ruling that details your answer and explains how and why you reached the conclusion that you did. The issue on the fact pattern of the assignment deals with copyright laws of the United States. For purposes of the one-page ruling that you have to write, I am providing you with the legal background and possible arguments in order for you to arrive at your own conclusion and complete the assignment. Summary of the Facts of the Case: Bobby Bandleader has been singing his own version of Happy Birthday To You for over twenty years at his restaurant. In Bobby's version of the song, he uses the same tune, but has different wordings of the song. Bobby's version of singing Happy Birthday To You became very popular and has contributed to the success of his restaurant. Johnny Singstealer is the copyright holder of Happy Birthday To You. The copyright has not expired and is still valid. Johnny discovered the use of his song by Bobby Bandleader and has sued Bobby for copyright infringement. Bobby is seeking $1million for damages and an injunction against any further performances by Bobby. Copyright Laws: The copyright laws of the United States is encoded in Title 17 of the United States Code. The website to access for the copyright laws is: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/ Below are the applicable sections in the code that applies to this case. I am making annotations in blue why I feel the section...
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...Have you heard the term copyright? I think yes, but you may be wonder what it means or what it does. Copyright is a form to protect your work against plagiarism or any kind of misuse. But should copyright penalties be tougher? My answer is no. Tougher laws won’t solve the problems that copyright is fighting in today’s world, like piracy. Increasing the penalties will only make the problem bigger. Like Oscar Wilde said: “the best way to get rid of temptation is drooped into it.” This means that people will infringe copyright no matter what. To understand the infringement of copyright better we first need to know what it is. As I mentioned before, copyright is a protection that the United States Copyright Act of 1976 provides to authors of original works. When the work is created it immediately is secured with copy right, although the registration of your work in the copyright office is recommended. Works after January 1, 1978, are protected from the moment they were created for the author’s life plus 70 year after the author’s death. Anonymous works or pseudonym works are only protected from 90 to 120 years, which is less time. The copyright is represented with the symbol ©, the letter C inside a circle. Penalties for copyright are from $250 to...
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...The purpose of this outline is to identify and recognize the Tangible and Intellectual property rights significant to the Information Technology sector. The research should identify what the managers in that industry can do to protect the property rights of the organization, and what the managers in that industry should do to assure that the organization protects the intellectual property rights of others. This will require an understanding of tangible and intellectual property in general, plus research about the tangible and intellectual property issues in the selected industry. Tangible Properties that is significant in the Information Technology sector According to Webster and Dictionary.com Tangible is having actual physical existence, as real estate or chattels, and therefore capable of being assigned a value in monetary terms, capable of being touched, real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary. According to LAW-531, rEsource Ch 16, Tangible property is the type of property we can see and touch. Delivery trucks, desks, computers, inventory, and the Building and land in which a business is located are all forms of tangible property. Information technology computer hardware includes computers components input keyboards, output screens or monitors, and peripherals including cables, scanners, surge protectors, optical drives, digital imaging equipment, printers, data processing equipment, Fax machines. The IT sector has much to offer in this category...
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...CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY The Graduated Response System Issues, Benefits and Alternative approach Anik K Singh 8/11/2012 The Graduated Response System INTRODUCTION The growth of internet and its ever increasing pervasiveness has caused extensive digitization of copyrighted content not limited to a single format and subsequently an increase in online piracy. This combined with the advent of P2P file sharing mechanisms as a massive means of infringement practice has led to a paradigm shift in the approach to copyright infringement. Where unauthorized copying of a work was earlier considered a means of increasing a work’s market by stimulating its network effects, it is today seen as an unfair practice, a hindrance to the content owners and artists creative and financial viability. This shift has seen associations like RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) take desperate measures to curb illegal file sharing, the latest means of which is the “Three Strikes Rule” also known as The Graduated Response Plan. This paper starts with a brief overview on why copyright laws are important to content owners and discusses illegal file sharing, its history and the various means used for it. We then discuss the various approaches that representative bodies like RIAA have taken in the past and why the transition to the Graduate Response Plan, how it operates, its relative advantages and disadvantages to the...
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...No Electronic Theft Act (NET) BIS/220 – Introduction to Computer Application and Systems April 2, 2013 Copyright infringement has become a serious issue in today’s world. Owners of this material lose money every time an image or any material is used illegally. The Internet has brought about more opportunities for someone to steal copyrighted material. An Internet user can simply copy and image, save it, and use it for their own gain while the holder of the copyright of that image gets nothing. This situation was becoming an issue so in 1997 the United States government enacted the No Electronic Theft Act to help stop this from occurring. Description of the Act The No Electronic Theft (NET) Act was enacted on December 16, 1997 to facilitate prosecution of copyright violations on the Internet. The Act made it a federal crime to reproduce, distribute, or share copies of electronic copyrighted works. Examples of this work would be songs, movies, games, and software programs. The Act allowed prosecution even if the person copying or distributing the material was doing so with no commercial purpose or receiving financial gain from the theft. Prior to the Act people who distributed or possessed copyrighted material faced no criminal penalties if they did not profit from it ("What Is the No," 2012). Provisions of the NET Act impose criminal liabilities on an individual who willfully reproduces or distributes copyrighted works for purposes of commercial advantage,...
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...Legal Concepts Worksheet Concept Application of Concept to the Issue of Downloading Reference to Concept in Reading The Law of Property – Intellectual property law Property is one’s legal right to exclude others from various resources due to the ownership of those resources. With the rise of e-commerce and the increase of music sales or downloads online, the law of property can be applied. Music producers consider their music their property and protect them from public use and public download. The law of property “establishes private exclusive rights in resources. It is through the law of property that individuals and business organizations can possess, use, and transfer their private resources” (Reed et al, 2005). “Intellectual property laws arose out of the common law, but they also reflect constitutional and statutory adoption. Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution grants the power to Congress “[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”” (Reed et al, 2005). Legal regulation as a source of value for business ethics When downloading music online, there is a thin line between what is ethical and what is legal. Transferring of music downloaded from a website, even if paid for, can be unethical. At the same time, it can be considered illegal practice. For example, if I download a song from the internet and pay five dollars for...
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