Entertainment Law Update Episode 160 – August/September 2023
Addressing for the first time whether California law establishes a right of public performance for the owners of pre-1972 sound recordings, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found no such right for music and...more
One of the provisions included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act that President Trump signed into law on December 27, 2020 addresses the so-called “felony streaming” loophole in the Copyright Act and criminal code. ...more
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
Main Quest: Does Your Gaming Stream Violate the Copyright Act? Streaming platforms, such as Twitch, Mixer and YouTube Gaming, are quickly becoming household names, with daily viewership rates that rival those of more...more
Nashville is home to a lot of musicians. It is also home to a number of organizations known as “performing rights organizations,” or PROs. Within the United States, the three main PROs are Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI),...more
So you’ve already written and recorded a song and determined who owns it, but now what can you as an owner do with it? What rights in the song do you have, that no one else does? The owner of the copyright in a work has...more
As we reported this spring, the “Music Modernization Act” (MMA) working through Congress avowed to bring the royalty determination formula for digital music services into the 21st Century. In April, the House of...more
As we promised in our prior post, we have an update on the “Music Modernization Act” (MMA) that promises to advance copyright law governing digital transmissions of sound recordings into the 21st Century. In a rare act of...more
With the lifting of the International Skating Union ban on the use of music with lyrics, the Olympics in Pyeongchang is the first in which singles and pairs ice skaters can compete to music with lyrics (Ice Dancers have been...more
On December 20, 2016, the New York Court of Appeals (New York’s highest court) issued a landmark state copyright law decision, holding in response to a certified question from the Second Circuit in Flo & Eddie, Inc. v. Sirius...more
Greenberg Glusker music law partner William I. Hochberg was quoted in an August 4, 2016, Daily Journal article, “DOJ declines to modify consent decrees, angers PROs.”...more
SiriusXM Radio operates both satellite and internet radio, broadcasting many stations for every musical taste. Its Channel 6 features music from the 60s and called 60s on 6. In September 2014, Judge Philip Gutierrez in the...more
The U.S. Copyright Act in 17 USC 106 specifically gives copyright owners the exclusive right to control “performances” of their works. 17 USC 101 defines public performance as including “transmission” of the work. In 17 USC...more
On June 25, 2014, the United States Supreme Court decided ABC v. Aereo, one of the more important (and most closely watched) copyright cases of the digital era. The Court’s 6-3 decision that streaming-TV startup Aereo...more
With the Supreme Court’s Aereo decision finally out, the digital industry is struggling with its impact, if any, on various products and services, particularly with regard to cloud computing. However, the Supreme Court...more
On June 25, the Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in the case of American Broadcasting Companies, et al. v. Aereo, Inc. f/k/a Bamboom Labs, Inc., Case No. 13-461 (June 25, 2014). The case centered on Aereo’s...more
In American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (June 25, 2014, No. 13-461) 2014 U.S. Lexis 4496, the issue before the court was “[w]hether a company ‘publicly performs’ a copyrighted television program when it...more
The Supreme Court of the United States announced an important copyright decision last Wednesday in American Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo, Inc. (573 U.S. ____ (2014)). The 6-3 decision by Justice Breyer reversing the United...more
In a highly-anticipated decision, the Supreme Court last week released its decision in ABC v. Aereo, holding that the transmission of over-the-air broadcast signals by Aereo’s tiny antennas constitutes a “public performance”...more
On June 25, 2014, the Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated decision involving the latest clash of technology and copyright that marks a significant victory for television broadcasters. In American Broadcasting Companies...more
On June 25, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its eagerly anticipated decision in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., et al. v. Aereo, Inc., fka Bamboom Labs, Inc., No. 13-461.1 In a 6-3 majority opinion, the Court found...more
On June 25, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court decided American Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo, Inc., No. 13-461, holding that Aereo violates the Copyright Act by streaming near-live copyrighted television programming to subscribers...more
Yesterday the Supreme Court issued the Aereo opinion and decided that, given its activities, Aereo is substantially similar to a cable television provider and therefore “perform[s] petitioners’ copyrighted works ‘publicly,’...more
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. – What You Need to Know - Today the Supreme Court ruled that streaming broadcast television signals to subscribers without paying for the programs violates the...more