David Nimmer is of counsel with the firm of Irell & Manella, LLP, in Los Angeles, California. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Law School at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In this panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, panelists Ken Abdo, Ann Chaitovitz, Jay Cooper, Mark Goldstein and David Nimmer discuss what they expect will happen as copyright ownership on music recorded since 1978 begins to revert from the labels that released the recordings to the authors of the music, and all the difficulties that will arise from this transition – for example, ongoing attempts by the RIAA to add music to the list of nine specific types of work for hire, the question of who exactly is the “author” of a sound recording, and how future evolutions in content delivery are likely to affect copyright and royalty regulations.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists examine the legal underpinnings of the current music copyright landscape, including the coming cascade of music copyright reversions from labels to artists, songwriters and producers, the debates over work-for-hire statutes (and whether recorded music may be considered work-for hire), as well as various revisions to US copyright law – including an attempt in 1999 by the RIAA to insert language in a copyright revision bill adding sound recordings to the list of nine specific types of creation which may be considered work for hire.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists discuss the slippage present in the term “author” as applies to the agent of record behind the creation of a sound recording, in the context of Federal copyright law.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists continue their discussion of the slippage present in the term “author” as applies to the agent of record behind the creation of a sound recording, in the context of Federal copyright law – e.g., is the “author” the frontman, the band, the songwriter, the engineer, the producer, the backup musicians, or all of the above – and what happens when ownership of the copyright of a sound recording reverts to the author… whoever that is.
