Re: Beatles unauthorized releases

On Sat, 18 Mar 2000, Colin Seeger <seeger[_at_]ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 16 Mar 2000, Mike Phillips <mfslaw[_at_]mailandnews.com> wrote:
> >
> > This issue was kicked around quite a bit in a Usenet group, but
> > a definitive answer was never reached. There are many, many
> > "unauthorized" releases of recording sessions of The Beatles (and
> > many, many other groups) in circulation. As the tapes were never
> > officially published by the copyright owner, and as the tapes were
> > recorded in the UK, is it a violation of copyright law to copy the
> > tapes in the United States. I've always considered selling these
> > unauthorized releases to be counter to the owner's rights, but when
> > challenged on the assertion, I was unable to quote chapter and verse.
> >
> > Then the discussion degenerated to whether it is illegal to make a
> > copy in the United States of music released in the United States to
> > "trade" with another person.
>
> You might check out the Australian Federal Court decision from around
> 1988 re: the "Apple House" recordings (I believe the applicant was the
> Rolling Stones). The case has a fully reasoned decision which is a
> good guide to common law countries which use the UK laws as the
> copyright basis. The case revolved around the sale of CDs of bootleg
> recordings (high quality ones, usually taken off the mixing desks)
> which were sold as "unauthorised". The applicants failed on copyright
> and trademark and passing off. Strike three and goodnight.
>
> Much depends upon whether the particular recording was made "unlawfully"
> in the context of the relevant copyright act. In the absence of any
> copyright or proprietary rights being granted to a performance (sorry
> for the apparent oxymoron, but it seems to be the only way to describe
> the legislative thinking), the fact that a recording was made without
> the artist's or the record company's consent, is immaterial.

As I understand it, the law in Australia is a little different to elsewhere including Canada and the UK (any lawyers from there prepared to comment). In Australia, you can take recording devices to a concert (if they let you in with them), make your own recording and sell it paying only the compulsory royalties to the composers (not the performers). I don't think this is the case outside Australia.

For a number of years, a local label has been selling legal "bootleg" recordings from concerts in Australia (at well below large studio prices) with surprisingly good quality sound.

Timothy Arnold-Moore
<tja[_at_]io.mds.rmit.edu.au> Received on Mon Mar 20 2000 - 05:19:01 GMT