Congratulations to client V. Contreras on the release of her music video for "Lush," currently #9 on the ReverbNation pop charts for Seattle. Tickets are near sold out for her May 3rd album preview show at the Triple Door. Described as the "love child of Dusty Springfield and Nancy Sinatra with a splash of The Ronettes," her sound is both nostalgic, yet modern and distinctive. Check it out:
When a good faith user wants to license a copyrighted work but cannot locate the owner, the work is considered to be an “orphan work.” While there are provisions in the Copyright Act that would allow for use of an orphan work under some circumstances (such as §107 (fair use), §108(h) (use by libraries during the last twenty years of the copyright term), and §115(b) (statutory licenses for musical works, discussed in my previous post here), these existing provisions do not address the majority of orphan work situations. The result is that good faith users are unable to legally license millions of copyrighted works. This unfortunate result is antithetical to the purpose of copyright law - which should be to promote the progress of science and the arts.
The orphan works problem is a by-product of a series of changes in the copyright laws that eliminated previous requirements that copyright owners publish, register, renew, and attach copyright notices to their works in order to receive copyright protection. One of the most common misconceptions I frequently hear from clients is that the law requires affirmative actions by the owner (such as registration or affixing copyright notices) in order to protect a copyright – but in fact, the only thing that an owner must do to own a copyright is to create something original, fixed in a tangible medium. There are additional benefits conferred to a copyright owner upon timely registration, such as the potential recovery of statutory damages and attorneys’ fees in an infringement suit. However, registration isn’t required in order for a copyright to be valid.
The problem that arises when copyright owners aren’t required to register copyrights or to attach notice of their claim to ownership is that many copyright owners go missing. According to the Copyright Office, this orphan works problem is especially pervasive for photographs, but it also arises frequently with other types of works, such as books and musical works.
Previous attempts at legislation attempted to strike a balance between the rights of copyright holders and good faith users by allowing use of an orphan work as long as the user made a “reasonably diligent effort” to locate the copyright owner. In the event the owner came forward at a later date, the remedies would be limited to payment of “reasonable compensation” for use of the work. The proposed legislation was ultimately unsuccessful, so Congress at the early proposal stages did not specify what would constitute a “diligent effort” to locate the owner (i.e., what technology and/or search practices should be used); or how “reasonable compensation” would be determined (i.e., whether by mutual agreement, or a license fee determined by a court or by statute).
The Copyright Office is currently accepting comments from interested parties regarding the problem of orphan works, in preparation for a recommendation to Congress for proposed legislation. Comments may be submitted until March 6, 2013.
The above advertisement was originally published in the New York Clipper in 1906.
The short answer, is no. To begin, it's important to first distinguish between the two separate copyrights in music: 1) the copyright in the underlying composition; and 2) the copyright in the actual sound recording. Although artists can refuse to license the use of their recordings, they cannot prevent others from recording cover versions of the underlying compositions. Under Section 115 of the Copyright Act, the licensing of copyrighted compositions is compulsory, as long as the artist recording the cover pays the original artist a mechanical license fee.
Congratulations to client and former Nicholl Fellowship finalist Michael Raymond on winning the Dark Hero Studios Sci-Fi Award at the 2012 Austin Film Festival for his screenplay, The Domain. The 19th annual Austin Film Festival jury chose its 2012 Screenplay and Teleplay Competition winners from a record number of 6,500 submissions. The award is well deserved, congrats Michael!
Congratulations to client K2 Siren, LLC – their film, K2: Siren of the Himalayas will premiere on November 3rd at the BANFF Mountain Film Festival in Alberta, Canada. A feature documentary shot in Pakistan, the film follows world-class alpinists Fabrizio Zangrilli and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner as they attempt to reach the summit of K2, a highly treacherous mountain with three times the fatality rate of Mount Everest. One out of every four alpinists have died attempting to reach the summit of K2 as a result of harsh weather, demanding climbing conditions, and high avalanche danger.
Please support these intrepid local filmmakers by following them on Facebook and Twitter. View the trailer here:
K2 - Siren of the Himalayas from Ursus Films on Vimeo.
Heather Morado