Law Commons^™

Co-Authorship Between Photographers And Portrait Subjects, Molly Torsen Stech

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

work with the intent of merging their contributions into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole, the authors are considered joint authors. For photographic works, judicial precedent establishes that the creative contributions necessary to support a copyright claim include the author’s choices concerning elements such as lighting, pose, garments, background, facial expression, and angle. In many visual works, however, those creative elements are determined not solely by a photographer, but also by the subject, who can sulk or smile, stand with good posture or stoop, and be situated in full light or obfuscated by shadow, among many other options. …

Franchise Participants As Proper Patent Opponents: Walker Process Claims, Robert W. Emerson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Franchise parties may be sued for patent infringement, or they may seek to sue others for an antitrust injury as the result of a fraudulently obtained patent. Indeed, franchisors and franchisees may simultaneously fall under both categories-sued for infringement but aggrieved because the very basis of that suit is illegitimate in their eyes. These franchise parties may turn for relief to a patent-validity challenge authorized in the seminal case Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machine & Chemical Corp. Franchise participants-franchisees and franchisors alike-may be the ideal Walker Process claimants. When these types of cases occur, the damages within the …

"Blurred Lines" Means Changing Focus: Juries Composed Of Musical Artists Should Decide Music Copyright Infringement Cases, Not Lay Juries, Jason Palmer

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The verdict in Williams v. Bridgeport Music, Inc., or the "Blurred Lines" case, surprised a lot of people. It surprised the public, as many did not expect there to be infringement. It also surprised the litigants, because the jury's special verdict form contained a logical inconsistency indicating that something had been decided incorrectly. However, the jury cannot be faulted for this inconsistency because it was tasked with deciphering the indecipherable. The fault lies in the way copyright law establishes infringement. This Note investigates the apparent circuit split in determining music copyright infringement and proposes that it is illusory. All circuits …

Copyright, Derivative Works, And The Economics Of Complements, Glynn S. Lunney, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

From an economic perspective, copyright is irrational. In defining the scope of a copyright owner's exclusive rights, it treats situations that have similar economic consequences differently, as infringement in one case and not in the other, and situations that have radically different economic consequences similarly. This essay explores such area in which copyright exhibits economic irrationality: Copyright's treatment of complements. Where a lower price on a substitute reduces demand for the original, a lower price on a complement increases it. So defined, copyright addresses whether a copyright owner will control three different types of complements: (i) complementary products, such as …

The Specter Of Copyism V. Blockheaded Authors: How User-Generated Content Affects Copyright Policy, Tom W. Bell

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Technological advances, because they have radically lowered the costs of creating and distributing expressive works, have shaken the foundations of copyright policy. Once, those who held copyrights in sound recordings, movies, television shows, magazines, and the like could safely assume that the public would do little more than passively consume. Now, though, the masses have seized (peacefully acquired, really) the means of reproducing copyrighted works, making infringement cheap, easy, and, notwithstanding the law's dictates, widespread. Copyright holders thus understandably fear that their customers have begun to treat expressive works like common property, free for all to use. That, the specter …

Chillin' Effect Of Section 506: The Battle Over Digital Sampling In Rap Music, Ronald Gaither

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Digital samples are to rap music as precedent is to the practice of law. Lawyers, mindful of the principle of stare decisis, mine court opinions for arguments to support legal theories. Similarly, rappers use the lyrics and musical arrangements found in previously recorded works to spin out new and creative pieces. But where-as no one worries when a lawyer quotes pieces of old case law to fashion her arguments in a novel case, rappers' heavy reliance on digital sampling routinely puts their community front and center in a debate over copyright infringement...

Considering the severity of most criminal penalties for …