Today marks the release of the 24th (!!) installment of the James Bond megaseries, Spectre, and what better way to honor the occasion than by learning a little about the legal battle that has plagued the franchise since its inception. Spectre, or Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, was the villainous organization responsible for many of the...Read More
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Steal from the best, but make it your own.” But what exactly does this mean in copyright law? Recording artists sample work from previous recordings, painters recreate photographs, books are adapted into film. Much of what we see today with regards to creative works, we’ve seen or heard before in...Read More
Adding yet another piece to the confusing puzzle that is music royalty laws, it seems as if American businesses are facing the same issues that we discussed were happening in Thailand- there’s no such thing as free music. Multiple local business owners in Connecticut, for example, have recently been facing lawsuits for not paying licensing fees in order...Read More
(cont. from The Hollywood Lawyer blog post, “Sampling Music Part 2 of 3: How do I get permission?“) So, at this point, assuming that you now have the copyright owner (i.e., publishing company, songwriter) and/or master recording owner (i.e., record label) on the phone, it’s now time to talk money and see how much $...Read More
(cont. from The Hollywood Lawyer blog post, “Sampling Music Part 1 of 3: When do I need permission?“) Alright, so now you know you need to get clearance for a music sample. What’s next? You’ll need to get permission from the appropriate copyright owners: If you’ll be sampling just the song (composition – written form...Read More
