Professor Tyler Ochoa was recently quoted in Intellectual Property Watch regarding recent court decisions regarding the copyright of performances and broadcasters’ rights.
According to the article, the November 14 ruling in the case of Flo & Eddie Inc. v. Sirius XM Radio held that New York’s common law grants a public performance right to creators of pre-1972 audio recordings and that Sirius apparently infringed this common law copyright when it digitally broadcast plaintiff’s recordings. This ruling could significantly impact how digital audio broadcasters will continue to play pre-1972 songs, especially since the law could vary from state to state.
“Traditional broadcasters are sweating bullets,” said Professor Tyler Ochoa. “They are the ones with the most to lose.”
In the article, Prof. Ochoa also explains how performance rights differ based on media type.
“When the internet became important, broadcasters were willing to let Congress enact a public performance right for digital transmissions for post-15 February, 1972 works and to provide a compulsory license for those works. So performers get paid for streaming, but not for digital audiovisual transmissions or for analogue transmissions. That makes no sense,” said Prof. Ochoa.
Subscribers may view the article on the Intellectual Property Watch website. The article is available as a PDF download to non-subscribers under a Creative Commons license below:
