NFTs are the present/future of IP licensing, might also violate copyright law
Biederman Blog » Music
by Max Hacker
2y ago
Nathan Apodaca, also known as 420doggface208 on the popular social media video site TikTok, recently announced that he was selling an NFT of his virally iconic skateboard-riding, Fleetwood Mac-lip synching, cranberry juice-swilling 2020 TikTok video. Bidding for the NFT starts at $500,000. If you’ve seen the video, you may be surprised to learn that Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and Ocean Spray’s logo are absent from the NFT version. Unless you’ve been living under a digital rock, you’ve probably come across this somewhat new form of digital collectible. If not, you can learn more here, here, or h ..read more
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Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer hits ‘sweet home’ in NYC, where appellate judges reject bar to filming and release of ‘Street Survivor’ biopic dramatizing not just band tragedy but also rise of southern rock
Biederman Blog » Music
by Carla L. Martin
2y ago
A trio of federal appellate judges in New York have taken a rare role typically reserved for Hollywood moguls: They have green-lighted a biopic that touches on the tragedy involving a band that pioneered the Southern rock sound decades ago, with hits like Sweet Home Alabama, Freebird, and What’s Your Name. The movie, Street Survivor: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash, had gotten hung up in legal controversies that roiled not only film makers but also First Amendment advocates. But, ultimately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit set Street Survivor “free as a bird ..read more
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MMA and USMCA? They’re not piles of letters. They’re the future of copyright, protections key to Hollywood, music and entertainment industries.
Biederman Blog » Music
by Carla L. Martin
2y ago
*Editors note: This post was updated (see below) on Nov. 12, 2018: In recent years, courts, lawyers, and judges have held huge sway over copyright law, which plays a central role in the creative life of the movie, television, publishing, and recording industries. But Congress and the executive branch have bestirred themselves with new legislation and agreements that seek to hurl intellectual property protections, especially for music, into a more modern era, with new technologies and realities. After years of maneuvering by various interested and competing parties, sufficient political and pr ..read more
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Ask not what a bot does to thee: Sony and Facebook back down after taking down part of British pianist’s posted J.S. Bach performance video
Biederman Blog » Music
by Carla L. Martin
2y ago
Johann Sebastian Bach may have died 268 years ago, but does legal discord still prevail over the ownership of his musical works? It may, particularly if computers play a part. Earlier this month, James Rhodes— a British classical pianist who has attracted increasing public attention, not just for his virtuosity but also his harrowing personal story of childhood sexual abuse — posted a video on Facebook of his performance of Bach’s Partita No. 1 for keyboard, published in 1726. But shortly after the social media post went up on its site, Facebook silenced 47 seconds of it because Son ..read more
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After fans ripped ‘Michael’ for ‘fake’ songs, Sony and King of Pop’s estate won free-speech protection for product answers, judges find
Biederman Blog » Music
by Carla L. Martin
2y ago
The King of Pop may have died a decade ago but his legacy of litigation lives on, as a California appeals court has just reminded. And while the state appellate judges may have put a curious coda on free speech protections of the works of Michael Jackson from beyond the grave, they didn’t try to answer fans’ questions about a disputed album’s performance or compositional authenticity in their late August ruling. It came even as the death of another popular music icon — the irreplaceable Aretha Franklin — underscored why, for Entertainment Law practitioners, artists’ posthumous legal state may ..read more
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William Leonard Roberts II played yet another round of the name game. But this time appellate judges found Uncle Sam the mastermind, with his marks demanding respect
Biederman Blog » Music
by Natalie Reynoso
2y ago
William Leonard Roberts II has kept lawyers and judges busy with his apparent identity crisis, manifest large in his reach for noms de guerre. He was just back in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where three judges slapped down his latest claim with a reminder that a powerful fellow takes even more seriously than Roberts may this whole business of naming: And when Uncle Sam decides to issue a trademark on a handle, rappers cannot mess lightly with his protections. The latest legal kerfuffle for Roberts, a Grammy-nominated rapper aka Rick Ross, involved another pseudonym he u ..read more
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Sho’ Nuff: fiscal risk persists for music publishers after appellate court revives copyright suit, royalties claims over tune sampled for Justin Timberlake Hit ‘Suit & Tie’
Biederman Blog » Music
by Natalie Reynoso
2y ago
Sho’ Nuff, some music publishers still may have a financial reckoning ahead with a trio who called themselves Sly, Slick, and Wicked and who have laid claim to hits by Justin Timberlake and J. Cole for sampling their work. The door had seemed shut on the dispute over royalties from the 1970s track sampled in the singles by Timberlake and J. Cole. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has reopened the copyright suit filed by ’70’s R&B performers John Wilson, Charles Still, and Terrance Stubbs. The band members argued that Dynatone Publishing Co., UMG Recordings Inc., and Uni ..read more
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‘Moral rights’ may hold some sway in Egyptian music, but Jay-Z rules like a pharoah in an appellate win in a long-running infringement case involving rap hit ‘Big Pimpin’
Biederman Blog » Music
by Anne M. Lum
2y ago
The Egyptians’ and their empire, culture, and world views so enthralled the ancient world that Greek and Roman generals and statesmen dreamed of ascending to the pinnacles of its power as pharaoh. But centuries later, and after more than a decade of litigation, Jay-Z — a royal of American modern urban music  — may simply be relieved he and a host of others no longer will need to “be spendin’ big cheese” to defend a 1999 copyright infringement case over the rap hit Big Pimpin. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has rejected the suit against the superstar, aka Shawn Corey ..read more
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Give it up, divided appellate judges tell Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams about hopes to overturn controversial ‘Blurred Lines’ infringement case
Biederman Blog » Music
by Natalie Reynoso
2y ago
There are far fewer blurred lines now for Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth District told the talented duo they’ve got to give it up and concede that they infringed on copyrights held by heirs to the soul legend Marvin Gaye. After more than 4.5 years of litigation, the divided appellate panel upheld the lower court ruling that Thicke and Williams were in the wrong with their 2013 international chart-topper Blurred Lines and how it dealt with material from Gaye’s song Got to Give It Up. In 2015, jurors found that Williams, Thicke, and ..read more
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Taylor Swift shakes off ‘Playas’ infringement claim. But how about that federal judge’s harsh finding of ‘unoriginal,’ ‘uncreative’ and ‘banal’ lyrics?
Biederman Blog » Music
by Anne M. Lum
2y ago
It may be true, as some songs have averred, that playas gon play, and haters, they gonna hate. But federal district judges, well, they rule. And, when asked to decide matters with elements that they may deem legally triflin’, their honors sometimes can just zing parties before them. That was the case with U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald in Los Angeles, as he took up a copyright infringement suit filed by the songwriters of 3LW’s 2001 piece, Playas Gon’ Play. They asserted that pop diva Taylor Swift  violated their copyright  for Playas with her hit Shake It ..read more
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