Re: "CD manufacturers were sued, and lost..."

On 1 Sep 98, Carol Shepherd <shepherd[_at_]arborlaw.com> wrote:
>
> According to a report from PRI (Public Radio International) this
> morning, "CD manufacturers" "were sued" and are now requiring
> producers to provide verification of copyright license or ownership.
>
> Anyone know which cases they're talking about?

I suspect that this is the same or similar to the NPR (National Public Radio) report a day or two ago regarding my favorite "culture jammers", a group of audio collagists calling themselves Negativland. Recently, Negativland was informed by their CD pressing plant that in the absence of proof that every sample on their recording had been cleared (at least hundreds, probably thousands of samples), the plant would refuse to press the disk. This was in response to a set of "guidelines" issued by the RIAA claiming that any plant that pressed CD's including any identifiable samples might be subject to suit on the basis of vicarious or contributory infringement.

Negativland claims that their use of the samples in audio collage is a transformative fair use. They issued a press release regarding the matter, and encouraged their fans to contact various representatives of the RIAA directly. As a result of these contacts, the RIAA has revised the "guidelines" and entered into direct discussions with Negativland.

I have a number of messages on this topic distributed by Negativland to their mailing list. These include the original press release and the RIAA's official response. If anyone would be interested, I could forward these individually or post them to the list.

Happy trails,
Rod

Rod McCarvel
<rod[_at_]seanet.com>

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

          -Anatole France Received on Thu Sep 03 1998 - 01:41:29 GMT