Re: Copyright or Trademark a Program?

On Wed, Mar 17, 1999, Don Roemer <droe2[_at_]earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, Steven D. Jamar <sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu> wrote:
> >
> > On Sat, 13 Mar 1999, Charles Kramer <tilyou1[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Fri, 12 Mar 1999, Steve Jamar <sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > The MLK speech was written down - it was not extemporaneous
> > >
> > > But if an extemporenous speech today was recorded clandestinely by
> > > someone in the audience, would not the speech be protected by
> > > copyright? The speaker owning the copyright, and the recorder
> > > merely owning the medium in which it was recorded?
> >
> > How so? I'm sure I'm missing something here. The copyright act
> > permits performances and speeches and the like to be copyrighted if
> > the performance or speech is contemporaneously recorded "under the
> > authority of the author." (sec. 101, defn of "fixed"). It seems by
> > the terms of the question the recording was not done "under the
> > authority of the author."
>
> While I normally just lurk, I do have to ask....
>
> Suppose I were a member of the press. I arrived at a press conference
> called by the soon-to-be speech giver. I bring my cameras and recorder.
> No press kit nor advance copy of the speech is made available. I cover
> the event and record every word and take a few stills. And to make
> things easy, I am the only "press person" to show up.
>
> Do I or do I not have a copyright in the stills and the recording?

In the still photographs, yes.

In the speech itself, no.

In the RECORDING of the speech, maybe, depending on whether you had express or implied pemission from the speaker to make the recording. But assuming that the speech was written down in some form before it was delivered, the copyright in the speech itself is still owned by its author. At least, that's my best guess ... and not intended to be legal advice.

Bob Cumbow
cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com
206-583-8566 Received on Thu Mar 18 1999 - 20:38:58 GMT