[Air-L] public private

[burkx006 at umn.edu]

On Aug 10 2007, Gilbert B. Rodman wrote:

>it's legal to perform other people's songs without their permission.

My previous comment notwithstanding, I AM going to correct this: absent a 
handful of unusual and narrow exceptions (like public performance of 
nondramatic musical works at agricultural fairs) -- no, it's not. You 
almost always need a non-statuory license for public performances.

>To the best of my knowledge, there's no actual analog for a compulsory
>license in other media 

This is the more important point flowing from the previous correction: in 
fact the copyright acts of not only the U.S. but most other jurisdictions 
are absolutely lousey with compulsory licenses. Many of them, like fair use 
or fair dealing, are at a zero royalty, but they are extremely common. 
Depending on what you mean by "other media," they also occur with frequency 
in other IP and non-IP ownership regimes. There is a large, and frankly 
unmanageable literature studying this.

DLB



On Aug 10 2007, Gilbert B. Rodman wrote:

>Well, no.  IP law *is* pretty clear about this -- at least with respect
>to music -- and your rights as the composer of a song DON'T prevent
>other people from performing/recording it.  The world is filled with bad
>cover bands (and, to a lesser extent, good ones) precisely because it's
>legal to perform other people's songs without their permission.  The
>mechanism by which this is achieved is called a compulsory license, and
>the only major exception to it that looks like what Ed describes below
>is that the songwriter has the right to choose who records his/her song
>first.  But it's perfectly legal for anyone who so desires to
>perform/record someone else's composition once it's already been recorded.
>
>In the context of recording, the cover artist is obligated to give
>proper credit to the original songwriters and to pay royalties.  In the
>context of live performance, the ASCAPs and BMIs of the world
>theoretically keep track of such things -- though it's the performance
>venues, rather than the performers, who pay the bill (at least
>directly).  What's not legal is passing those songs off as your own --
>THAT'S fodder for a lawsuit -- but you have no legal grounds to sue for
>infringement simply because someone else plays a tune you wrote without
>your say-so.
>
>To the best of my knowledge, there's no actual analog for a compulsory
>license in other media -- so this analogy isn't going to do much good,
>either way, to settle the question of what to do with online materials. 
>But if we're gonna go down this path at all, let's at least get the
>basic facts straight.
>
>cheers
>gil
>
>
>Ed Lamoureux wrote:
>> sorry
>> IP law is really clear on this.
>> once I put the ideas into form, they are protected by copyright law.
>> You can't copy my song without permission. If you do, it's infringement.
>> Doesn't matter where you do it.  If I find out about it, I can seek a  
>> cease and desist order
>>
>> On Aug 10, 2007, at 12:54 PM, Conor Schaefer wrote:
>>
>>   
>>>  It's more of a philosophical issue to me than a legal
>>> one, the answer to whether street performance of a piece grants  
>>> another
>>> the right to play it. This is especially pertinent in your analogy to
>>> the net, because of the compartmentalization of spaces. For instance,
>>> while you as a street performer might take issue with my playing your
>>> song on the corner opposite you, what if I'm doing it on the other  
>>> side
>>> of town? What if on another continent? While word might eventually  
>>> reach
>>> your ears of this, don't assume that you could use a search engine to
>>> find work you made--especially if it's multimedia, an area in which  
>>> the
>>> search industry is trying desperately to improve performance.
>>>     
>>
>> Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D.
>> Associate Professor, Multimedia Program
>> and Department of Communication
>> Co-Director, New Media Center
>> 1501 W. Bradley
>> Bradley University
>> Peoria IL  61625
>> 309-677-2378
>> <http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/index.html>
>> <http://gcc.bradley.edu/mm/>
>> AIM/IM & skype: dredleelam
>> Second Life: Professor Beliveau
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Dan L. Burk
Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly Professor
University of Minnesota Law School
229 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN  55455
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