>>> Michael Seadle <seadle[_at_]MAIL.LIB.MSU.EDU> 10/05 6:15 AM >>>
I thought the issue about federal coverage for sound recordings was more complicated and predates 1972.
My copy of Nimmer puts the Mr Maestro case in 1963, and I thought that case indicated that, even well before 1972, sound recordings could (in principle) have federal copyright protection under the right circumstances. <<<<<
It is important to remember that there are two copyrights involved in a sound recording: the copyright in the work being performed, and the copyright in the particular performance of the work that is being recorded. So, even before 1972, reproduction of a sound recording could subject you to liability for copying the work being performed, which is what was at issue in the Mr. Maestro case. But if you copied a sound recording of a public domain work, you were subject to liability only under state law. [There is a well-known case in N.Y. involving the Metropolitan Opera.]
Tyler T. Ochoa
Associate Professor
Whittier Law School
Received on Wed Oct 11 2000 - 18:26:38 GMT
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