Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Law

"Stronger" Together: Kanye Could Have Owned His Masters By Engaging In Collective Bargaining, L. Camille Cordova May 2022

"Stronger" Together: Kanye Could Have Owned His Masters By Engaging In Collective Bargaining, L. Camille Cordova

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Because the legislature and judiciary have failed to protect recording artists’ interests, this article proposes that engaging in collective bargaining will re-balance the bargaining positions of the major record labels and recording artists to create a mutually beneficial agreement that gives recording artists a termination of rights clause that mirrors section 203 of the 1976 Copyright Act. By contracting with a major record label, recording artists are automatically eligible for union membership to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union (“SAG-AFTRA”), who have experience negotiating other collective-bargaining agreements with these record labels. This agreement would provide …


“Sorry,” But I Didn’T Release It: How The Court’S Analysis Of The Fair Use Doctrine In Chapman V. Maraj Protects Innovation And Creativity In The Music Industry, Samantha Ross May 2022

“Sorry,” But I Didn’T Release It: How The Court’S Analysis Of The Fair Use Doctrine In Chapman V. Maraj Protects Innovation And Creativity In The Music Industry, Samantha Ross

University of Miami Business Law Review

The fair use doctrine is an important affirmative defense to copyright infringement when a particular use does not interfere with copyright law’s primary goal of promoting creativity for the public good. Artists and songwriters frequently experiment with copyrighted music without permission before seeking licensing approval from the original rights holders to “sample” or “replay” the work. In Chapman v. Maraj—a copyright infringement suit brought by Tracy Chapman against Nicki Minaj—the United States District Court for the Central District of California held that experimenting with a copyrighted musical composition for the purpose of creating a new work with an intent to …


De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans Apr 2022

De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans

Pepperdine Law Review

In a 2016 acceptance speech during the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, actor and activist Jesse Williams used the phrase “gentrifying our genius” to refer to the insidious process of misappropriating the cultural and artistic productions of Black creators, inventors, and innovators. In that speech, he poignantly and unapologetically condemned racial discrimination and cultural misappropriation. This Article chronicles the nefarious history of the creative disempowerment of creators of color and then imagines an empowering future for those who successfully exploit their creations by fully leveraging copyright ownership and transfer termination. To that end, I reference the considerable scholarship of Professor …


Thieves In The Temple: The Scandal Of Copyright Registration And African- American Artists, Kevin J. Greene Apr 2022

Thieves In The Temple: The Scandal Of Copyright Registration And African- American Artists, Kevin J. Greene

Pepperdine Law Review

Copyright registration is the currency of copyright transactions in music, film, and television and is essential for pursuing infringement claims and ownership disputes. Despite copyright registration’s outsized reach across the copyright spectrum and importance to the copyright industries, the U.S. Copyright Office does not verify claims of copyright authorship or ownership. No express mechanism exists to challenge false copyright registrations in the Copyright Office, and the penalties for falsely claiming copyright authorship are paltry in comparison to the potential gains. This Article contends that lax copyright registration standards call into question the legitimacy of the registration system and that the …


The Fiction Of Nfts And Copyright Infringement, Emily T. Behzadi Apr 2022

The Fiction Of Nfts And Copyright Infringement, Emily T. Behzadi

Faculty Scholarship

In the first quarter of 2021, the sales of art in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”) reached over $200 billion dollars. The arrival of NFTs in the mainstream art market has profoundly shaped the way artists exploit their works. This sensational boom has attracted some of the world's biggest names across pop culture and sports, including celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Post Malone, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, to create their own NFT art. Director Quentin Tarantino has also capitalized on this craze through the creation of an NFT collection based on the film Pulp Fiction. However, …


Hip Hop And The Law : Presented By Intellectual Property Law Association 03/31/2022, Roger Williams University School Of Law Mar 2022

Hip Hop And The Law : Presented By Intellectual Property Law Association 03/31/2022, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.


Copyright's Deficit: Technology, Modern Consumer Preferences, And The Music Marketplace, Taylor A. Collins Mar 2022

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 …


Must American Artists Starve? Jan 2022

Must American Artists Starve?

Florida A & M University Law Review

This legal essay proposes a solution to the problem of artist and publisher compensation as deprived by MMA and discusses the realities and limitations of pursuing a Takings Clause violation under the Fifth Amendment. It further proposes a modern perspective on copyrighted works as property to lay the intellectual foundation for copyright reform and offers that the “best efforts” standard should replace the “commercially reasonable efforts” standard since modernizing copyright law is essential to the music industry. Lastly, the author suggests a practical approach to pursuing a Due Process claim under the Fifth Amendment.