Attorney Fees Update
Depending on the circumstances and the law, parties on either side of an entertainment suit may ask a court for an award of attorney fees. Following are court rulings from recent months that deal with this and related concerns. In future issues, Entertainment Law & Finance will report on such relevant rulings in Attorney-Fee Updates.
Bit Parts
Recent developments in entertainment law.
Courthouse Steps
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Livin' the Singles Life
Slow to start, authorized Internet downloads of individual sound recordings now exceed one million per week. For recording artists, this may mean a return to the heyday of singles sales experienced in the '50s, '60s and the disco era of the '70s, when singles were created to stand and sell on their own, with little or no relation to other tracks contained on an artist's album. A single in that era routinely consisted of a record with an A and B side, the sale of which rarely produced anything more for an artist than promotion for the artist's live performances. However, with increases in royalty rates and CD retail prices during the '80s and '90s, successful major label artists were able to negotiate provisions in their recording agreements allowing for greater advances and royalties from the production and sale of albums in CD form. Over the past few years, major labels, in large part, have discontinued the release of commercial singles in an effort to eliminate the cannibalization of higher-profit margin CD album sales. As a result, recording artists and their representatives are carefully watching the consumer change from purchasing albums in pre-recorded CD form to purchasing individual tracks from the Internet. Undoubtedly, a return to living the singles life could have severe financial ramifications for recording artists who have become accustomed to living the CD album life.
Decision of Note: <B>Song Sampling is Found <i>De Minimis</i></B>
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that placing a sampling loop of a six-second, three-note segment from a musical composition into a new sound recording wasn't copyright infringement because the use was <i>de minimis</i>. <i>Newton v. Diamond</i>.
Trademark Exploitation on the Internet
While the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C.S. '1051, adequately addresses the legal difficulties associated with bad faith registration of trademarked names by non-trademark holders, e-exploitation of trademarks is still a problem for trademark holders.
Music Industry Faces Dual Setbacks
Just as the reinvigorated Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed its third wave of lawsuits to thwart the trading of copyrighted music…
