Copyright Litigation: Victory for Music Educator and Music Boosters in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

The Burbank High School show choir, which was the basis for the television series Glee, has been involved in a long running copyright litigation battle waged by Tresona Multimedia, LLC (“Tresona”). A significant decision was published earlier today by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is embedded below. This is a fact intensive post, so please read closely.

Summary: Tresona is a music licensing company. Burbank (Ca.) High School has several show choirs. In 2017, Tresona filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Brett Carroll, the Burbank HS choir director, the Burbank HS Vocal Music Association Boosters Club, several Booster Club parents. Why the plaintiff chose to name the individuals, particularly the Booster Club parents, is a mystery.

All of the facts that follow are integral to the result that the Court reached: The performers are Burbank High School students. Because the costs of the ensemble are not covered by the School District’s budget, the Boosters Club (a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization) holds several fundraising concerts. One of these is an annual show choir competition. The Boosters sell tickets and advertisements in the programs for these events.

During one particular such fundraiser, one of the Burbank HS choirs performed a two minute excerpt of “Magic”, by Olivia Newtown-John. Burbank’s performance of “Magic” was contained in a medley of other songs. Similarly, Burbank HS performed a sixteen second excerpt of “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warner, which runs four minutes and twenty two seconds in total.

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The Coronavirus Crisis and the Live Music Industry

The Coronavirus Crisis has caused the unexpected and abrupt nationwide closure of many live performances and concert tours. Everyone involved in the production of these events has been hurt by the upheaval and the continuing uncertainty.

On Wednesday, March 25th at noon eastern, Tuk Law will present a live videoconference to address the effect that the Coronavirus Crisis has had on live performers, specifically for musicians, storytellers and DJs, as well as what the crisis means for presenters of live events.

Bryan Tuk will be joined by Patrick Brogan, ArtsQuest’s Chief Programming Officer in this hour long discussion.

This is a FREE event, but you must register here to participate in the live event.

Copyright Law Update: Led Zeppelin Prevails at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

For years, the members of Led Zeppelin have been defending a copyright lawsuit brought by the trustees of The Estate of Randy Wolfe, which alleged that Zeppelin had infringed on the Estate’s copyright of Taurus, which was a song written by Wolfe and performed by his band Spirit in the late 1960s.

Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an en banc ruling which ultimately sides with Led Zeppelin. The Ninth Circuit was considering the Estate’s appeal of the District Court ruling after a jury determined that no copyright infringement occurred. This is a vindication for Led Zeppelin and likely ends this claim. The Estate’s only recourse now is to file a petition for Certiorari with the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court receives tens of thousands of petitions a year, and can only grant a hearing in an extremely small percentage of those matters.

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The Gig Economy Just Got Much Tougher in New Jersey

New Jersey just made life very difficult for all employers in every industry, specifically small businesses. In New Jersey, business owners can now be criminally charged and fined up to $5,000.00 per day for misclassifying workers as independent contractors.

Running a small business can be very difficult. One of the issues that employers of all sizes struggle with is whether to classify workers as statutory employees or independent contractors. Statutory employees are paid on a W-2 basis, whereby the employer withholds federal and state payroll taxes. W2 employees have certain rights and remedies available to them under state and federal law. For example, the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law is one of those laws.

Independent contractors, on the other hand, negotiate their work relationships with employers and have those relationships governed by contract. Those contracts can provide the worker with rights and remedies. That is one of the points under attack by this overreach in New Jersey- the freedom of contract.

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Podcast Episode: Taylor Swift, the Power of the Audience and Licensing Agreements

Recording artist Taylor Swift is waging a very public campaign against the company that owns many of her master recordings. Her audience seemingly is following suit. Social media is providing people a way to broadcast threats. We live in divided times.

A private equity firm ends up with control of Ms. Swift’s master recordings.

Analysis of the real root of this story is in this episode: the negotiation of the original licensing or production contracts and how those contracts can control the future conduct of the parties. Listen to the episode for more detail.