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Sirius Xm Radio, Inc., Defendant: The Case For A Unified Federal Copyright System For Sound Recordings, Brian G. Shaffer Jun 2015

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 Jun 2015

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 Jun 2015

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 Jun 2015

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 May 2015

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 …