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Why The Copyright Act Expressly Preempts State-Level Public Performance Rights In Pre-1972 Recordings, James Fahringer May 2018

Why The Copyright Act Expressly Preempts State-Level Public Performance Rights In Pre-1972 Recordings, James Fahringer

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Over the past several years, two former bandmates in the 1960s rock group, The Turtles, have initiated several lawsuits against the popular music streaming services, Pandora and Sirius XM, arguing that the band owns common law copyrights in the sound recordings of its songs, and that these state-level copyrights grant the band an exclusive public performance right in its sound recordings. If accepted, this argument has the potential to significantly distort federal copyright policy because states would not be constrained by any of the balancing features of the Copyright Act, including Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbors for Internet …


Appropriate Testing And Resolution: How To Determine Whether Appropriation Art Is Transformative Fair Use Or Merely In Unauthorized Derivative., Eric D. Gorman Jan 2012

Appropriate Testing And Resolution: How To Determine Whether Appropriation Art Is Transformative Fair Use Or Merely In Unauthorized Derivative., Eric D. Gorman

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article addresses the copyright concerns in appropriation art today and concludes that copyright law should be amended to address the complex issues found in this area of the law. Part II provides a background on appropriation art and the different facets of copyright law, including the doctrine of fair use. Part III analyzes whether appropriation art can even be considered “fair use” under the current exceptions of copyright infringement. Part IV discusses various legal tests to determine whether appropriation art that utilizes copyrighted material can exercise the doctrine of fair use against alleged copyright infringement. It also proposes a …


Digital Audio Recording Technology: Challenges To American Copyright Law., Douglas Reid Weimer Jan 1990

Digital Audio Recording Technology: Challenges To American Copyright Law., Douglas Reid Weimer

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article discusses the objectives of American copyright law, its development and its current day codification. The inception of digital audio recording technology (“DAT”) raises new challenges for American copyright law. American copyright is a constitutionally sanctioned and legislatively accorded form of protection for authors against the unauthorized copyright of their “original works of authorship.” A significant copyright issue is the ability of DAT to reproduce nearly perfect copies of copyrighted musical works. This Article further discusses certain aspects of copyright law, such as the fair use defense and the concept of “home” for the purposes of copyright protection. The …