Many are lost in a copyright maze: “The American rules infuriate scholars, archivists, musicians and the conservationists who preserve fragile recordings. They fret that by the time the recordings become available, many will be beyond salvation.” [The Economist] “A Trove of Historic Jazz Recordings has Found a Home in Harlem, But You Can’t Hear Them” [Steven Seidenberg, ABA Journal]
Posts Tagged ‘music and musicians’
Annals of criminalization, part 2,038: “performing” copyrighted material
The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved S. 978, a bill that would raise from a misdemeanor to a felony the unauthorized performance or streaming of a copyrighted work when the infringement takes place at least ten times and either reaps $2,500 or more in revenue, or avoids the payment of license fees whose fair market value would exceed $5,000. Mike Masnick at TechDirt thinks the bill could wind up authorizing the jailing of some persons who embed YouTube videos or post videos of themselves lip-synching hit tunes; CopyHype defends the bill and dismisses the concerns as overblown.
Pixilated version of famous Miles Davis image
Oh, what an expensive bet on “fair use” that idea for album art turned out to be [Andy Baio, waxy.org via @petewarden]
May 27 roundup
- Prospects dicey at best for CPSIA reform as Waxman, Dems toe consumer-group line [Woldenberg, more, Nord, Northup] If AAP is going to posit 49,000 poisonings from lead in recalled jewelry, shouldn’t it try to document a couple of them? [Woldenberg] Credit at least to House Commerce Committee majority for trying to tackle mess with this law [Mangu-Ward, ShopFloor, AtC]
- “Lawsuit claims Jay-Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’ violates Egyptian ‘moral rights'” [DBR]
- My Cato Institute colleague Gene Healy reviews new Eric Posner/Adrian Vermeule book on executive power [AmCon]
- Subpoena filed by class-action lawyer Stephen Tillery demands contributor list of Chicago-based think tank critical of litigation [Madison County Record] Judge quashes subpoena as chilling of First Amendment liberties [same]
- Suits filed by its own officers, often those accused of misconduct, have cost LAPD $18 million since 2005 [L.A. Times via Dave Krueger, Agitator]
- “Do Menthol Cigarettes Taste Too Good to Be Legal?” [Sullum, earlier]
- “Motion Claims Buxom Woman with Opposing Counsel Is Intended as Jury Distraction” [ABA Journal] More: Ken at Popehat, Lowering The Bar, Above the Law.
“How Copyright Law Makes Sample-Based Music Impossibly Expensive… If You Want To Do It Legally”
Kembrew McLeod: “it [licensing] gets way more complicated when you start sampling songs that contain samples, which is increasingly the case today.” [Atlantic Wire via TechDirt]
May 4 roundup
- “You Will Be Relieved to Know it is Now Harder To Discipline Bad Cops in Arizona” [Coyote]
- NYT runs Title IX “roster management” through a feminist echo chamber [Heather Mac Donald, Secular Right] Even with the slant, colleges’ willingness to contort their programs to comply with quotas tends to prove critics’ case [Althouse, Wendy Parker, College Sports Council, more]
- “AT&T v. Concepcion: ‘Consumers Win in Allegedly Anti-Consumer Supreme Court Ruling'” [PoL] Will Elizabeth Warren partly undo the outcome? [Fisher/Forbes] More on case: Trask, Karlsgodt;
- “[Entertainer] Prince Wants Laws Changed To Eliminate Song Covers” [Hollywood, Esq./THR]
- Consulting firm accused of racketeering in Chevron suit has U.S. gulf spill contract [ShopFloor]
- Point out flaws in DoJ’s legal case against you, and get branded “uncooperative” [Koehler/FCPA Professor]
- NYC might ban buying fake handbags [WSJ Law Blog] Bill sponsor’s curious political trajectory to city council [Rick Brookhiser, many years back in City Journal]
May 2 roundup
- In suit over weird, elaborate online hoax, court allows fraudulent-misrepresentation claim despite lack of motive of tangible gain [Chi Trib]
- Service animal rodeo: “A trained rat probably would have had a good case in California” [AP/Statesman-Journal] Broward County, Fla. backs lonely widow’s right to keep “prescription Chihuahua” against rules of condo board [AOL, Sun-Sentinel] Oklahoma: “Depressed Woman Fights to Keep Therapy Kangaroo” [Newser] Earlier on recent change in federal rules;
- Should lawmakers screen bills for constitutionality? Ms. Lithwick has trouble sticking to a position [AEternitatis]
- Human-relations complaint leads to arrest of U.K. man for singing “Kung Fu Fighting” [MSNBC]
- Barney Frank: Yes, let’s talk about med-mal reform [The Hill] Ringing the bell: Roundups of more big med-mal verdicts [White Coat, more]
- “Expert Witnesses Stripped Of Immunity From Negligence Suits In The UK” [Erik Magraken]
- “Sustainability”: an empty idea? Or perhaps actively wrongheaded? [David Friedman via David Henderson]
April 27 roundup
- “Bioblitz”: Environmental groups file thousands of actions demanding endangered species listings [NYT; related discussion with Jonathan Adler and Steven Hayward at NYT’s Room for Debate]
- War on painkillers could turn many more Florida docs, druggists into criminals [White Coat]
- Feds flex muscle, using debarment to oust company CEOs [Jim Doyle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
- “Madigan’s List”: powerful Illinois pol sways selection of Cook County judges [Chicago Tribune]
- Nick Gillespie interviews education reformer Jay Greene [Reason]
- Social conservatives misplay recusal card against Judge Vaughn Walker in Prop 8 case [Richard Painter, LEF, more, AW, LAT] Other views: Whelan, Gillers, motion.
- Why TV shows like “WKRP in Cincinnati” appear in compromised DVD versions [Alex Tabarrok updates a story we had in ’06]
Court: ADA requires captioning stadium music
“Music blasted over the public address system during Washington Redskins games is part of the entertainment experience, and deaf fans should have access to the lyrics of those songs, a federal appeals court has ruled.” [Leigh Jones, National Law Journal]
February 21 roundup
- Estate of Anna Nicole Smith may sue over opera based on her life [Daily Mail via Surber, other Daily Mail]
- Maryland Department of Environment: yep, we put tracking devices on Eastern Shore watermen’s boats [Red Maryland]
- Trial lawyers’ federal contributions went 97% to Dems last cycle [Freddoso, Examiner]
- $6.5 million for family abuse: unusual sovereign-exposure law costs Washington taxpayers again [PoL]
- Canadian court: no, we can’t and won’t waive loser-pays for needy litigants who lose cases [Erik Magraken]
- CPSC considers mandating “SawStop” technology [Crede, background]
- Gun groups alarmed over ATF pick [Chicago Tribune]
- Jury blames hit-run death on wheelchair curb cut [four years ago on Overlawyered]