Over the last week or two I have listened to a few podcasts going over legal issues and developments in the entertainment industry. The issues that they have discussed have ranged from film to music to internet. Even though some of these developments my not have occurred in your field of the entertainment industry it is always good to be knowledgeable in other areas and usually you can still apply the concept to your own field.
The first podcast I listened to was from Episode 12 of the Entertainment Law Update with Gordon Firemark and Tamera Bennett. You can find the podcast here. While Firemark and Bennett discussed many developments within the industry, only a few stuck with me.
· Broadcasting Royalties – The Broadcast Performance Right Act will allow for royalties to be paid on the recordings. Satellite radio broadcasters are already paying royalties, but now this will apply to regular AM/FM radio. This could hurt smaller radio stations because they may not have the funds to pay the royalty rates, but the larger broadcasters will be fine due to a rise in advertising. Firemark says that it will “level the playing field with satellite radio.”
· Ringtone Royalties – In the RIAA v. Librarian of Congress, the Copyright Royalty Board exercised its statutory responsibility and set a royalty rate of $0.24 per copyrighted ringtone. Bennet made a great point in that the market for the ringtone is dying, and maybe this royalty rate should have come sooner.
· Viacom v. YouTube and Google – Viacom lost the infringement case against YouTube. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) YouTube is not liable for the copyright infringement that Viacom is alleging. The DMCA creates a safe harbor for “user-generated content” websites and allows YouTube to not “police” the site to find users that are infringing on copyrights.
The next podcast was from April 29, 2011 on 103.1 INDIE radio’s show called Barely Legal Radio with Joe Escalante. You can find the podcast here. Again, these are the issues that I got the most from.
· One caller had recently gotten his band back together and had a question regarding their name. The name of the band is “Los Federalies” and the caller informed Escalante that there were other mariachi/salsa bands with the name, but spelled as “Los Federales.” Before putting out an album, the band wanted to make sure they would not be infringing on anyone. Escalante informed him that it wasn’t necessarily the spelling that matter, because if someone heard “Los Federalies” announced on the radio there would be no way of telling them apart from “Los Federales.” This would cause confusion and the trademark laws are there to prevent confusion. Escalante suggested that if the name was not trademarked, then he could register it if he had the proof to show that the band had been using it longer.
· The next caller had a question regarding adding his music to a movie clip or a montage of movie shots to post onto YouTube. He had seen this done by other undiscovered bands and wanted to make sure it was legal before moving forward. Escalante informed him that movie clips and stills are copyrighted materials, so that would be considered infringing. But he points out that this happens a lot on YouTube and there aren’t many consequences for it. Only when the copyright owner notices it or if the video has received negative feedback will it be removed.
The last podcast that I listened to focused on “cloud” technology. Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell from Legal Talk Network discuss the new technology in the “Lawyers in the iCloud” episode from June 20, 2011, found here.
· Recently Apple announced the arrival of iOS 5, Lion, and iCloud systems in the fall of 2011. iCloud being the big announcement since many other companies have their own version of the technology. This will allow people to access their iTunes, photos, documents, apps, books, back up, contacts, calendar, and mail from a remote location. iCloud will be different from other systems in that it will be simple. The idea is to make it where you don’t even need to think about using it; it will be automatic with no synchronizing.
The legal side of this topic concerns confidential information that does not live on a personal server, but in the cloud. Security could be an issue for companies to worry about with cloud computing. Kennedy and Mighell make the point that since this is the direction that everyone is moving towards, the convenience of the system may outweigh the risks of the system. They give the example of lawyers using the system for their legal documents, asking would they be comfortable having these items in the cloud? But if these legal teams do not join in the cloud computing age, they will mostly likely be left behind and still searching for their documents on other systems. These security issues don’t just apply to legal teams, but to everyone. Artists and musicians will have their creations stored on the cloud and could also be susceptible to theft. But I agree with Kennedy and Mighell that the convenience will outweigh the possible threats of the system.
Even though each topic was different from one another, each can be applied to any field. You must always watch out how you promote your brand and make sure you are going about it the correct way. This includes the spelling of your name, the sound bites you play, the videos you upload, or your personal property on the cloud. Be cautious in each business transaction and make the right decisions.
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Sources:
http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2010/06/entertainment-law-update-episode-12-youtube-hurt-locker-idea-theft-more/
http://www.gehrkelaw.com/2010/06/riaa-v-library-of-congress.html
http://www.gehrkelaw.com/2010/06/riaa-v-library-of-congress.html
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/06/youtube-wins-summary-judgment-viacom-dmca
http://blip.tv/barely-legal-radio/rss/itunes
http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/kennedy-mighell-report/2011/06/lawyers-in-the-icloud/
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