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Copyright ASCAP

A Copyright is an exclusive legal right granted to the creator of an original work to license, copy, sell, distribute, or otherwise exploit the work for his or her own benefit.
Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Two More Comedians Added to Pandora Battle over Licenses to Perform Jokes

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Over his highly successful career, comedian Lewis Black has certainly done his share of hard work writing jokes. He also has copyrighted them. Now he and a host of other famous comedians are seeking compensation for the use...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

No Joke: Lewis Black Sues Pandora for Copyright Infringement

Fox Rothschild LLP on

Lewis Black is the latest comedian to sue the music streaming service Pandora for copyright infringement. Black is following on the heels of the Robin Williams and George Carlin estates, who sued the platform in February,...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Music Public Performance Rights: Ignore That Licensing Offer from ASCAP or BMI at Your Peril

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

In the music world, performance rights organizations (“PROs”) serve an intermediary function between songwriters and music publishers and third parties who perform the protected works publicly. Among the largest PROs in the...more

Jones Day

Appeals Court Rejects DOJ Expansive Interpretation of Music Consent Decree

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The Background: Since 1941, performing rights organizations ("PROs"), which pool the copyrights held by a work's composer, songwriter, and publisher and collectively license those rights to music users, have been subject to...more

Brooks Pierce

Second Circuit Affirms “Fractional Licensing” Decision

Brooks Pierce on

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the ASCAP and BMI antitrust consent decrees do not prohibit “fractional licensing” of songs. Fractional licensing means that if there are non-ASCAP or non-BMI...more

Knobbe Martens

Music Licensing Basics: How to Legally Use Someone’s Music in Your Business

Knobbe Martens on

Introduction - •Music copyrights: –Musical works – sheet music and lyrics •Author is generally composer/lyricist and controls •Can be administered through a music publisher - ...more

Brooks Pierce

Music Performing Rights Organizations and the “Full-Work” vs. “Fractional” Licensing Dispute: Government Seeks to Overturn...

Brooks Pierce on

On Thursday, the United States filed its brief (link is external)in its appeal of a decision by the district court for the Southern District of New York (link is external), which rejected the US Department of Justice’s...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

This RMLC/GMR Fight Is No Joke

Womble Bond Dickinson on

Originally published in Radio Ink - January 12, 2017. Most radio stations have received emails in the past several weeks from both the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) and Global Music Rights (GMR) regarding an...more

Butler Snow LLP

Spooky Songs Done Wrong: Copyright Consequences for Unlicensed Haunted Houses

Butler Snow LLP on

It’s that time of year: costumes and candy, haunted houses and hayrides. And all those tricks and treats add up to a $7.4 billion commercial industry around the holiday, a figure that exceeds the annual revenue of the...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Entertainment and Media Litigation Update - October 2015

The "Dancing Baby" Case—Ninth Circuit Rules That "Fair Use" Must First Be Considered Before Sending Takedown Notices Under the DMCA - Why it matters: On September 14, 2015, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Lenz v. Universal...more

Mintz

DOJ Revisits Music Royalty Consent Decrees

Mintz on

From cassette tapes to CDs to Pandora and Spotify, innovations in the music field over the past two decades have drastically changed how people access music. Songwriters, however, are paid according to a system that has been...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Trademark, Copyright &...

Antitrust Claims Against SESAC Copyright Licenses Permitted To Proceed

Performing rights organizations (PROs) are entities that issue licenses to, and collect royalties from, television stations and other parties who wish to perform or dylanbroadcast copyrighted musical compositions. There are...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Southern District of New York Holds Music Publishers Cannot Selectively Withdraw New Media Rights from ASCAP's Repertory

On September 17, 2013, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the consent decree entered into by and between the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the...more

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