Re: student use of my composition

Mark Dresser <isamom[_at_]msn.com> wrote:
>
> I am a musician living in the United States who performs extensively
> in Europe. I recently received a copy of a documentary film project
> about Bosnian refugees in Austrian which was made by an Austrian high
> school teacher and his students. This 11 minute video used a live
> recording of one of my compositions exclusively as the musical
> background. The recording was taken from a CD which has distribution
> in Europe and the United States. I was never informed nor was my
> permission sought. The teacher, who forwarded the video to me via
> another musician who performed on the CD said in his letter "As this
> film was made for school purposes and is not shown in public, I hope,
> we did not interfere with the rights..." My question is, were my
> rights indeed interfered with and how can I protect myself. This
> composition is duly registered with ASCAP and I have comparable
> publishing arrangements in Europe. I would like to write to this
> teacher immediately, but I do not know whether such an unauthorized
> use is permissible.

The Austrian Copyright Act of 1936 as amended provides for a series of free uses ("freie Werknutzungen") comparable to fair uses accepted under US copyright law. In your case the high school teacher might invoke the copying for one's own use (Section 42 et seq.) exemption to your exclusive rights; the purpose of such copying, however, must not be to make the work accessible to the public.

Schools and universities benefit from a specific rule (Section 42 para. 3), which was introduced by the latest amendment and entered into force on 1 April 1996 - sorry for the date! :) The above-mentioned educational establishments are entitled to make copies according to the number of students in the very class and to distribute them among these students; however, reproduction and distribution must serve educational purposes and the extent of the reproduction must be justified by these purposes. (Works which by their character or characterization are intended for school or training purposes are exempted from this rule.)

Hope this gives you some orientation.

Albrecht Haller (Mag. iur., Mag. art.)
Weimarer Strasse 25, A-1180 Wien, Austria, Europe Tel. (+43 1) 478 62 31
mailto:haller@ins.at, http://www.netlaw.co.at Received on Wed Apr 02 1997 - 00:47:55 GMT