Re: Performers' Right in Sound Recordings

> Date sent: Tue, 13 Dec 1994 17:12:44 -0500
> From: Lesley Harris <harris[_at_]nicco.sscnet.ucla.edu>
> Subject: Performers' Right in Sound Recordings
>
> Could someone pls. let me know whether the U.S. now has a performers'
> right in sound recordings, and if so, pls. briefly describe it.

    There is no performance right in sound recordings -- sound recordings may be publicly performed without the permission of the owner (though the permission of the composer is necessary).

    There is, though, a reproduction right; sound recordings can't be physically duplicated without the copyright owner's permission. Soundalikes, though, are OK.

• Eugene Volokh, UCLA Law <volokh[_at_]law.ucla.edu>