Copyright

Home

Music Law

Harlem Shake Features Unlicensed Samples That Could Cost Baauer and His Label Dearly…

March 11, 2013

The news that the YouTube phenomenon Harlem Shake contains samples that the song's producer and writer, Harry Bauer Rodrigues (recording name Baauer), didn't get permission to use illustrates the ignorance that... Read More...

Study Finds That Google Prioritizes Sites With the Most Copyright Violations…

Paul Resnikoff

February 21, 2013

Not only is Google doing very little to demote the worst offenders, they actually seem to be encouraging them. According to a just-released report from the RIAA, the sites getting the most complaints from majo... Read More...

Study: Copyright Law Is Only Benefiting a Tiny Sliver of Musicians…

Paul Resnikoff

January 16, 2013

That's according to an academic study just released by Northwestern University School of Law, which found that a vast majority of artists are not motivated by copyright protections, and frequently not benefitin... Read More...

Global Licensing: Why Is It Still Impossible In 2013?

Paul Resnikoff

January 16, 2013

So you want to build a truly global music service? Here's how long it took Apple — one of the richest, most influential companies in the world — to get close to a 'global iTunes Store' for music downloads. An... Read More...

“Love Me Do” Is Now In the Public Domain In Britain

Paul Resnikoff

January 14, 2013

Some would call it a loophole, others the end of an already-generous protection period. But as of right now, the recording of the Beatles' "Love Me Do" has fallen into public domain in Britain, thanks to a rel... Read More...

Labels Intensify Their War Against Vimeo

Paul Resnikoff

January 7, 2013

He who lives by the DMCA, dies by the DMCA. And the latter may be the fate of Vimeo, the cleaner cousin of YouTube that never played the copyright game as slickly. Which is partly why the major labels are inte... Read More...

I’m Google’s Legal Director. And Maybe It’s Time We Reconsidered the DMCA

Paul Resnikoff

December 18, 2012

Google seems like the last company to complain about DMCA takedown requests, though a pace of nearly 3.5 million pulldowns a week may be causing some reflection. That is more than ten times the volume of just ... Read More...

Search Term: Hypocrisy. Google Is Now Suing ‘Doogle-it,’ a South African Job Site

Paul Resnikoff

November 18, 2012

Funny how things change when it's your intellectual property. Which is exactly the situation surrounding Google's threatened (or now, actual) lawsuit against 'Doogle-it,' a relatively tiny South African websit... Read More...

I’m an Anti-Copyright, Anti-Industry Artist. And This Is My Song

Paul Resnikoff

November 16, 2012

For every David Lowery, there's another artist who feels just as passionately about the other side. The following video comes from budding artist Jayme Gutierrez, whose song "D.I.Y. MySpam" reflects a pro-shar... Read More...

A Crash Course In Music Licensing

Paul Resnikoff

October 22, 2012

The following lesson in Licensing 101 comes from Soundreef, a European upstart focused on background music monitoring and collections. Soundreef ultimately wants to replace entrenched performance rights organi... Read More...

Copyright: It’s Corroding Musical Creativity In America…

Paul Resnikoff

October 21, 2012

Throughout American history, the duration of copyright has gotten longer and longer. The Copyright Act of 1790, which was a copy of the UK's Statute of Anne, granted fourteen years of protection. Fast-forward t... Read More...

I’m Here to Defend My Book, ‘The Beatles: Extraordinary Plagiarists’

Paul Resnikoff

August 30, 2012

If you have the balls to write a book like The Beatles: Extraordinary Plagiarists, then you probably also have the balls to defend it. Last week, author Edgar O. Cruz battled a litany of attacks - often person... Read More...

Major Labels Have the Fight of Their Lives Against AI Tech Giants — Elon Musk Says It’s Already Too Late

Uruguayan President “In Talks” with Spotify to Prevent Departure

OpenAI and Microsoft Face New Copyright Lawsuit for Allegedly ‘Taking the Combined Works of Humanity Without Permission’

Tupac’s Iconic ‘Dear Mama’ Slapped with Copyright Lawsuit — 28 Years After Its Release

Spotify Didn’t Quite Think Its ‘Royalty Modernizing’ Plan Through — But That’s a Problem for the Accountants

Harlem Shake Features Unlicensed Samples That Could Cost Baauer and His Label Dearly…

Study Finds That Google Prioritizes Sites With the Most Copyright Violations…

Study: Copyright Law Is Only Benefiting a Tiny Sliver of Musicians…

Global Licensing: Why Is It Still Impossible In 2013?

“Love Me Do” Is Now In the Public Domain In Britain

Labels Intensify Their War Against Vimeo

I’m Google’s Legal Director. And Maybe It’s Time We Reconsidered the DMCA

Search Term: Hypocrisy. Google Is Now Suing ‘Doogle-it,’ a South African Job Site

I’m an Anti-Copyright, Anti-Industry Artist. And This Is My Song

A Crash Course In Music Licensing

Copyright: It’s Corroding Musical Creativity In America…

I’m Here to Defend My Book, ‘The Beatles: Extraordinary Plagiarists’