Law Commons^™

Copyright's Deficit: Technology, Modern Consumer Preferences, And The Music Marketplace, Taylor A. Collins

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

While it is clear, and arguably has been for the last five years, that paid subscription streaming is the future of the music industry, the law has failed to keep pace with “modern consumer preferences and technological developments in the music marketplace.” The Music Modernization Act of 2018 (MMA), which amends the U.S. copyright law, 17 U.S.C., is Congress’s effort to keep pace with the music industry by fixing our cumbersome and inefficient music licensing system. The MMA is a step in the right direction, but it falls short of Congress’s goal. Focusing on Title I of the MMA—the Music …

The Problem Of Modern Monetization Of Memes: How Copyright Law Can Give Protection To Meme Creators, Mark Marciszewski

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Some legal questions answered in this article on the horizon for the courts and lawyers is how should courts apply copyright law to popular media made by small scale creators and shared on the internet, otherwise known as "memes."

Part II of this article will focus on validity of potential copyright protection in internet memes. It will start by describing the increased monetization surrounding memes and how this monetization calls for greater interest for meme creators to protect their work. It will then describe the merits of individual copyright interests in internet memes.

Part III of this article will focus …

Fair Use And First Amendment: Without Fair Use, What Would You Freely Speak About?, Adam Blaier

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

The question this paper tries to answer is: Without fair use, what would you freely speak about? This paper will seek to demonstrate that the Copyright Clause’s Fair Use doctrine, and the First Amendment are cousins who help each other, rather than enemies sworn to destroy each other as some believe. First I will give a brief overview and history of each doctrine. Next I will speak about three areas where I believe fair use and the First Amendment cross paths extensively. These areas are: (1) school/education; (2) social media and news; and (3) sports images/broadcasting. Finally, I will demonstrate …

A La Recherche Du “Sens” Perdu: Copyrightable Creativity Deconstructed, Thomas M. Byron

Pace Law Review

The primary goal of this article is to show how the concept of “creativity” as defined and applied by courts in copyright cases fails to map any reasonable concept of creativity in certain critical respects. Accordingly, the first charge undertaken here is a deconstructive one—to show the lack of meaningful overlap between the legal definition of creativity and the “actual” meanings of that same term. To undertake this comparison, Part II of this Article focuses on perhaps the more easily determined of these two definitions of the term—“creativity” as defined by courts. Rather than giving an unduly broad berth …

Copyrightability Of Music Compilations And Playlists: Original And Creative Works Of Authorship?, Marc A. Fritzsche

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Music compilations and playlists have a common nucleus of an act of gathering songs and ordering them. Their selection and arrangement can be decisive of the success and therefore can be valuable. And here is where the legal issues about their ownership arise: Are music compilations and playlists protectable under the regime of Copyright Law? This article will discuss the legal and practical issues connected with that question. Thereby, it will consider the United States, Europe in general and also the United Kingdom and Germany in particular. The individual legal systems and statutes will be analyzed, as well as the …

Sirius Xm Radio, Inc., Defendant: The Case For A Unified Federal Copyright System For Sound Recordings, Brian G. Shaffer

Pace Law Review

This article observes the surviving gap between state and federal protection of music recordings through the lens of the current litigation against Sirius XM. Part II sets out a history of copyright protection in the music industry. Part III outlines the relevant provisions of the federal Copyright Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the role played in the federal system by the Copyright Royalty Board. Part IV examines the pertinent statutory property protection of music recordings in the state of California. Part V then discusses the merits of the current lawsuits against Sirius XM. After considering the potential …

Gotham Skylines: The Intersection Of Scènes À Faire And Fictional Facts In Comic Books, Graphic Novels, And Their Derivative Works, Gavin M. Strube

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

In just a decade and a half since the modern superhero film exploded onto the scene, the comic books and graphic novels that have long been the very definition of a fringe or niche interest, have morphed into a multi-billion dollar film, television and video game empire. The two main players in this industry, Marvel and DC, are owned by juggernauts in the entertainment industry. More importantly, some of these characters have been around for over three-quarters of a century. Readers keyed into intellectual property law, particularly copyright, should begin to see the issue. The copyright protection on these characters …

Transforming “Transformative Use”: The Growing Misinterpretation Of The Fair Use Doctrine, Caile Morris

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Starting in late 2012, and continuing into late 2013, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York wreaked havoc on the traditional interpretation of the copyright infringement defense known as “fair use.” Two cases stemming from the advent of the Google Books Project are Author’s Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust and Author’s Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. These cases adopted a controversial interpretation of the fair use defense, codified in 17 U.S.C. § 107, when each case determined that the mass digitization of thousands of books constituted fair use merely because the digitization was what is known …

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring 2015

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

The staff of PIPSELF has worked diligently this year in selecting and preparing original and appealing articles concerning emerging issues in the fields of intellectual property, sports, and entertainment law for this issue. We welcome our readers to send comments and feedback: e-mail us at pipself@law.pace.edu, visit our Twitter @PIPSELF, or ‘like’ us on Facebook at “Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum.”

Copyright And Social Media: A Tale Of Legislative Abdication, Diane Leenheer Zimmerman

Pace Law Review

The focus of this article will be on what I call DMCA 2.0. It will begin by discussing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and why that statute, passed in 1998 to shore up the enforceability of copyright online by protecting content providers’ ability to engage in forms of technological self-help against online copyright infringers, has been problematic. Part II describes largely unsuccessful efforts in the form of statutes and trade agreements to shore up the DMCA. Part III turns to the latest salvo, the adoption of “voluntary agreements” whereby content owners and ISPs, in particular social media platforms, join …

Cash From Chaos: Sound Recording Authorship, Section 203 Recapture Rights And A New Wave Of Termination, Hector Martinez

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

The thesis of this Article is that under an exclusive recording agreement entered into in the United States between a record label and recording artist on or after January 1, 1978, any key member of recording artist that signed the recording contract is a bona fide author of a sound recording for purposes of claiming standing in order to effectuate a termination of transfer of grant under Section 203 of the 1976 Copyright Act.

Part I will summarize the history of sound recordings as copyrightable subject matter. Part II will examine record industry custom and practice as it relates to …

Banksy Got Back? Problems With Chains Of Unauthorized Derivative Works And Arrangements In Cover Songs Under A Compulsory License, Matthew A. Eller

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

This Article will analyze the scope of copyright ownership in relation to chains of unauthorized derivative works and chains of arrangement rights in cover versions of musical recordings. In particular, the analysis will focus on the gray area in the law where an unauthorized derivative work (“D1”) is created by an author and another author creates a second derivative work (“D2”) based off of D1. In situations such as these, does the creator of the original derivative work have any rights in their creation if their derivative work was unauthorized?

Further, depending on what rights do exist for D1, can …

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, Volume 4, Issue 2, Spring 2014

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

This issue of Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum includes articles on the modern legal issues & developments affecting fashion, the Internet, music, film, international sports, constitutional law & the lives of celebrities.

Slaves To Copyright: Branding Human Flesh As A Tangible Medium Of Expression, Arrielle Sophia Millstein

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

This Article argues why human flesh, because of its inherent properties and its necessity for human survival, should not qualify as a tangible medium of expression under the Copyright Act of 1976. Through policy concerns and property law this Article demonstrates why the fixation requirement, necessary to obtain copyright protection of a “work,” must be flexible and eliminate human flesh as an acceptable, tangible medium of expression, to avoid the disastrous risk of the court falling into the role of “21st Century judicial slave masters.”

Fifty Shades Of Transformation, Danielle Meeks

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Danielle Meeks explores the recent trend of publishing fan fiction, brought to the forefront by the popularity of the Fifty Shades trilogy. Creating a work within another author's copyrighted fictional universe for profit is analyzed under the fair use doctrine and by comparing substantial similarities between Fifty Shades and the Twilight series to determine if the trilogy is transformative enough to survive a potential lawsuit.

Combating Online Trademark And Copyright Infringement: Ice And Doj Domain Name Seizures New Tools In The Government’S Efforts To Combat Online Ip Infringement, Tanya Dunbar

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

The ICE seizures and proposed legislations to codify ICE-style seizures have led many to question the legitimacy of ICE’s seizures and decry the bills as censorship. Tanya Dunbar’s article explores the reasons for the government’s actions, the seizure mechanism the government employs, and the controversy surrounding domain name seizures. Where possible, the Ms. Dunbar offers solutions to some of the controversial issues that may arise.