Copyright Law - First Circuit - Can You Prove You Own That Song?

 Latin American Music Co., Inc. v. Media Power Group, Inc., 705 F.3d 34 (1^st Cir. 2013).

 

 

www.radioisla1320.com

 

Music licensing organization asserted copyright infringement claims against “Radio Isla” in Puerto Rico.  The district court found collateral estoppel on certain songs barred some claims that LAMCO had previously litigated and lost.  Other ownership claims were submitted to the jury, some after the district court had ruled on summary judgment at trial.  LAMCO lost on all claims, and appealed the district court’s referral of the ownership issue to the jury.  Because the pretrial order asserted that ownership was a contested issue at trial and because LAMCO did not object to a special jury verdict form that asked the jury to decide the question, the ownership issue was properly before the court.  On several songs, the First Circuit affirmed LAMCO’s claims for failure to prove registration.  Instead of proving copyright registration of individual songs, LAMCO’s registration certificates only reflected a recording of an assignment to rights in the songs.  Accordingly, it was held that this was insufficient proof of a registration of the copyright in the underlying works.

Click here to read Judges Torruella, Howard, and Thompson's decision.

www.dunnington.com
 Copyright law, fine art and navigating the courts. All practice, no theory.Copyright Litigation Handbook (Thomson Reuters Westlaw 2012-2013) by Raymond J. Dowd
 

Copyright Law - Sixth Circuit - Is Hearsay Admissible To Prove An Ancient Work-For-Hire?

 Brumley v. Albert E. Brumley and Sons, Inc., --- F.3d --- (2013), 2013 WL 4105842 (6^th Cir. 2013).





From http://www.therestorationmovement.com/brumley.htm

Songwriter Albert Brumley began writing and composing “I’ll Fly Away” in 1928 or 1929.  In 1932, the Hartford Music Co. secured the copyright by publishing it in a songbook.  In 1947, the songwriter’s eponymous Albert E. Brumley and Sons, Inc. purchased Hartford’s assets.   Songwriter said in a 1977 interview recorded with his son that he sold the rights to “I’ll Fly Away” for three dollars.   Newspaper articles from 1977 and 1986 said that the songwriter was a salaried employee of Hartford.  The district court granted a pre-trial motion in limine and admitted the songwriter’s son’s 1977 recorded interview with his father under the residual exception to the hearsay rule.  Fed. R. Evid. 807.  Also on the motion in limine, the district court then excluded the newspaper articles, even though the articles would have been admissible under Fed. R. Evid. 803(16)(ancient documents) and Fed. R. Evid. 902(6)(self-authenticating newspapers and periodicals), applying Fed. R. Evid. 403 (relevance) because the newspaper articles did not note the basis for the author’s statements therein.  With respect to the trial court’s admission of the sound recording, the Sixth Circuit noted that this was a question of first impression. The Sixth Circuit upheld the admissibility of the recording under the residual exception to the hearsay rule and concluded that the recording had the “requisite guarantees of trustworthiness”.   With respect to the newspaper articles, the Sixth Circuit reversed.  The newspaper articles were properly admissible as self-authenticating and ancient documents under Rules 902 and 803(16) of the Federal Rules of Evidence.  The evidentiary weight of the challenged articles should have been left to the discretion of the jury.

To read Judges Keith, Martin, and Cole's decision, click here.

www.dunnington.com
 Copyright law, fine art and navigating the courts. All practice, no theory.Copyright Litigation Handbook (Thomson Reuters Westlaw 2012-2013) by Raymond J. Dowd