Hip-Hop Law Blog

For this blog post, I decided to listen and review the Entertainment Law Update Podcast. This podcast is a monthly discussion between Gordon P. Firemark and Tamera Bennett, two Entertainment Attorneys. The three podcasts I listened to were Episode 13: copyrights, trademarks. fair use and net profit suits, Episode 17: can kanye write songs 140 characters at a time?, and Episode 23: monkeying around with copyright law.

The first podcast was about the use of fleeting expletives in broadcasts. Broadcasters have been arguing that there is a need for more leeway from the FCC with a more clear and concise list of the bad words not to say and what the consequences were going to be. The next situation they discussed was the issue of “Broadcast Performance Royalty for Sound Recordings” which was about artists getting royalty for their songs being on terrestrial radio. Broadcasters agreed that they do believe artists should get paid for their recordings, now the issue is getting their higher-ups to agree as well as a bill drafted for legislature review and acceptance. They also had a case that rapper Jay-Z was involved in over “Big Pimpin’”. “Big Pimpin’” violated the “moral rights” of heirs of a 1960s Egyptian film composer. The end result was Jay-Z won a summary judgment against Egyptian plaintiff that sued him over the song infringement suit. They discussed in the podcast that however, the family of the sampled song may seek a future case against Jay-Z.

The second podcast was about cases like Universal Music Group v. Augusto, which involved Universal suing Troy Augusto, a man who sold some Universal Music Group promotional CDs on the website eBay. They argued that Augusto's sales constituted copyright infringement. Augusto argued that it was apart of the “First Sale Doctrine” and that it was his property. On January 4, 2011, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Augusto’s favor stating it was indeed apart of the “First Sale Doctrine”. The next issue that was discussed about how there is an issue if “tweets” are covered under copyright because singer Josh Groban made a skit singing Kanye West’s tweets. It wasn’t a dispute but the issue was could a person’s tweets be copyrightable because “tweets” are considered original. They said it could be looked at as “fair use” though.

The third podcast discussed Disney appealed a case with Jack Kirby who sent notices terminating copyright to both Marvel and Disney over movies and TV shows that have been made based on characters he created or co-created. The copyright claims against were over such iconic characters as Thor, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and others. They discuss in the podcast about how the issue is over how much control he had in the creation of the characters because he was work for hire and how much input he had is up for debate. They also discussed a trademark/copyright case about The Wizard Of Oz being safe in public domain because a company called AVELA recreated posters, lunch boxes, and other nostalgia items. Warner Bros. however argued over the characters and copyright issues because of the film even if the original products were based off the book. Another case that was discussed in the podcast involved Shaquille O'Neil. Shaq brought a case against Michael Calmese and True Fan Logo, Inc. for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and right of publicity. Calmese and his company registered a domain name as well as tried to have a cease and desist issued to ESPN when they aired commercials featuring Shaq and a cactus over the "Shaqtus" name. The end result was Shaq won the case because of the "Family Of Marks Doctrine".

The results of these podcasts had me thinking for my business, copyright is really a major issue that needs to be covered so that no lawsuits are ever taken up against us. Anything that is sampled needs to be cleared up before release to the public. Also, if any producers, writers, etc. help with a project that for hire like the Jack Kirby v. Disney/Marvel Case there needs to be a detailed contract on ownership and payment laid out before any progress is made for the project to be released.

References:

Firemark, Esq., G. P. (Performer). (2010, August 25). Episode 13: copyrights, trademarks. fair use and net profit suits [Audio podcast]. Entertainment Law Update. Retrieved from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2010/08/episode_13/#more-624

Firemark, Esq., G. P. (Performer). (2011, January 26). Episode 17: can kanye write songs 140 characters at a time? [Audio podcast]. Entertainment Law Update. Retrieved from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2011/01/episode-17-can-kanye-write-songs-140-characters-at-a-time/#more-691

Firemark, Esq., G. P. (Performer). (2011, August 19). Episode 23: monkeying around with copyright law [Audio podcast]. Entertainment Law Update. Retrieved from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2011/08/elu-episode-023-monkeying-around-with-copyright-law/#more-771