Posts Tagged ‘ownership’

Press “Pause” On That Recording

Thursday, October 29th, 2015

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder In reviewing an engagement contract for one of my artists, I was surprised to see that the presenter wants the right to record the artist’s performance as a “work-for-hire”. The Presenter says that this is a standard requirement and also that its reasonable because my […]

Read the rest of this article »

A Tribute To Copyright Infringement

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder Could you please advise how a copyright application would be filed for a tribute musical of deceased popular singer? The show would consist of all of his songs. Would it be better to file it as a compilation or concert? Can all the songs be […]

Read the rest of this article »

How Is Copyright Infringement Like An Ugly Car?

Thursday, November 20th, 2014

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: What rights does a translator have? I translated a non-English script into English. All of the prior translations were very bad, which is why I did my own.  Everyone agrees mine is the best, even the original author. However, now that I am getting offers […]

Read the rest of this article »

Dad, May I Borrow the Car?

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: May we borrow music for an orchestral performance from another organization that purchased this music, but is currently not using it? When you write that the other organization “purchased this music”, do you mean that they actually purchased all performance rights to the music or merely […]

Read the rest of this article »

Commissioners Beware!

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law & Disorder: When a composer/songwriter is commissioned to write a song, who owns the copyright to the song? The commissioner or the writer? And for either party, when the other owns the copyright, what kind of controls and/or royalties does the holder have? As with just about everything […]

Read the rest of this article »

Can We Loan Sheet Music?

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: May we loan music that we own for orchestral performances by other non-profit organizations (schools, community orchestras, etc? Would the other group still need to obtain performing/recording permissions? Could we be liable if they don’t? It depends how define “own.” If by “own”, you mean that […]

Read the rest of this article »

Can They Dance Away With My Copyright?

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. I own the video footage of a performance by a dance company. Recently, I learned that another choreographer purchased a license from the dance company to recreate and perform the same work. However, they used a copy of my video to help in recreating the choreography. In other words, they […]

Read the rest of this article »

Listen To Your Mother and Get It In Writing!

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

By Brian Taylor Goldstein Can you answer this question for us?  My soon to be son-in-law is a musician. He has written and recorded many songs, and is producing his first CD.  One of the songs on the CD, he had a female friend sing with him.  If he plans to put this song on […]

Read the rest of this article »

If We Paid For It, Don’t We Own It?

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

By Brian Taylor Goldstein Dear FTM Arts Law: I am writing on behalf of our non-profit theater group. Several years ago, one of our volunteers designed a new logo for our theater. We paid her $500. At the time, she was friends with our Artistic Director, but they had a falling out. She recently sent […]

Read the rest of this article »