Intellectual Property

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Dave Oxenford this week conducted a seminar on legal issues facing broadcasters in their digital media efforts.  The seminar was organized by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, and originated before a group of broadcasters in Lansing, but was webcast live to broadcasters in ten other states.  Dave addressed a variety of legal issues for broadcasters in connection with their website operations and other digital media platforms.  These issues included a discussion of service marks and copyrights, employment matters, music on websites, the use of social media, privacy, and sponsorship disclosure.  The slides used in the Lansing presentation are available here.    During the seminar, Dave also mentioned that stations with websites featuring user-generated content, to help insulate themselves from copyright infringement that might occur in the content posted to their website by their audience, should take advantage of the registration with the Copyright Office that may provide safe harbor protection if a station follows the rules and takes down offending content when identified by a copyright holder.  The Copyright Office instructions for registration can be found here.   

One of the most common issues that arise with radio station websites is the streaming of their programming.  In August, Dave gave a presentation to the Texas Association of Broadcasters providing  a step-by-step guide to streaming issues, with a summary of the royalty rates paid by different types of streaming companies.  That summary to Internet Radio issues is available here.  Additional information about use of music on the Internet can be found in Davis Wright Tremaine’s Guide to The Basics of Music Licensing in a Digital Age.   Dave also presented this seminar at the Connecticut Broadcasters Association’s Annual Convention in Hartford on October 14.Continue Reading David Oxenford Conducts Webinar for State Broadcast Associations on Legal Issues in the Digital Media World – Including a Discussion of Ephemeral Copies of Sound Recordings

Last week, the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force asked for comments on the relationship between the protection of copyrighted content on the Internet and the effect of such protections on technology innovation and the expectations of consumers.  The purpose of the inquiry is to develop a report to be circulated among the various government departments that have power over the enforcement of copyrights and the development of rules and regulations that deal with copyrighted materials – to essentially develop government policy in this area.  While the request for comments dwell on the concerns about copyright infringement that are raised by many Internet applications, the proceeding will obviously be controversial among media companies.  Many of these companies are concerned about the unauthorized use of their content on various websites, while other media companies (or divisions of the same media companies who are concerned about the unauthorized use of content) are concerned about too tight restrictions on the use of copyrighted content and how that will impact various websites, especially those that feature user-generated content.

As we have written before, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act allows Internet companies to allow users to post material on their websites, without fear of liability, if they take certain precautions – including adopting terms of use warning users that they need to observe the intellectual property rights of others, not otherwise encouraging infringing uses, registering with the Copyright Office to provide a contact person at the website operator that a copyright owner can contact if they believe that their content is being used improperly, and taking steps to take down improper content if the website operator is notified of the infringing use.    This Commerce Department’s notice asks if this "safe harbor" provision has served the public interest, or if adjustments to this regime should be made.  Obviously, many websites that have grown businesses based on user generated content (e.g. many of the social networking and video-sharing sites) and will be very concerned with a proposal to alter their safe harbor and require them to take on a greater burden of reviewing content for potential copyright violations, while many content owners, who have complained about the inability to monitor all of these sites, may be looking for these reforms.   Obviously, there will be conflicting views on these proposals.Continue Reading Department of Commerce Seeks Comments on The Relationship of Protecting Copyrighted Content and Innovation in the Internet Economy

David Oxenford, Bob Corn-Revere, David Silverman, Brendan Holland, and others from Davis Wright Tremaine’s media and communications practice will be in Las Vegas, Nevada from April 10-15 for the 2010 NAB Show.  The NAB convention is an annual event and a focal point for engineering, legal, and business issues for the broadcasting and greater media worlds.  Bob Corn-Revere will be speaking at the American Bar Association Conference, Representing Your Local Broadcaster, on April 11, on a panel on new technology and the dangers it poses for journalists reporting from disaster areas or other scenes where immediate verification of information is not possible – the panel is called:  "Clear and Present Danger, Guiding Journalists Through the Catastrophic Perils."  David Oxenford, on the morning of April 12, will be speaking at the NAB Show on a panel called, "Copyright Licensing: Seeking a Bridge Over Troubled Waters", a panel dealing with the proposed broadcast performance royalty, streaming fees, the current ASCAP and BMI negotiations, and other copyright issues that arise in day-to-day operation of a broadcast station.  Dave will also be moderating a panel at the Radio and Internet Newsletter’s RAIN Internet Radio Summit, to be held in conjunction with the NAB Show, at the Renaissance Hotel on April 12.  Be sure to join us at these and other events in Las Vegas.

To help you attend the Show, we have been offered some discounts and free admissions for our readers.  The RAIN Summit, Internet Radio’s main event, has offered readers of the Broadcast Law Blog a 30% discount on admission to the conference.  That conference includes a full day of discussion of Internet radio topics, and will feature many of the industry’s biggest names.  From past experience, this always a great event with much great information, important for anyone with any interest in Internet radio and digital media.  The Summit features great networking opportunities, with a box lunch and post-conference reception.  An Exhibit Hall pass to the NAB Show is also included for RAIN attendees

For those not interested in Internet radio, we can still get you into the NAB Show’s Exhibit Hall – for free!  The NAB has offered our readers free access to the Exhibit Hall at the show. This free Exhibits-Only pass includes:

  • Access to the Exhibit Hall at the Show
  • Access to the Opening Keynote and State of the Industry Address
  • Access to Info Sessions on the Convention floor
  • Content Theater and Destination Broadband Theater

To find out how to register for these discounted offers, click on the Continue Reading link below.Continue Reading DWT Going to Las Vegas for the 2010 NAB Show – Discounts for RAIN Internet Radio Summit and Free Passes to NAB Exhibits and Keynote Available for Our Readers

The .co top level domain (TLD) is being opened to the general public, and one can envision a run on registrations similar to that experienced for .com.  It is easy to see why the Colombia country code, formerly available in that country only, may become very popular in the US and elsewhere.  For one thing, .co is the standard abbreviation for "company."   It is also a very common misspelling of .com.  It has been estimated that google.co gets 15,000 hits per day by mistake.   From April 26 until June 10, a window will open in which only registered trademark owners will be able to register their marks in the .co TLD.  Beginning in July, however, .co will be opened to the general public.  We suggest that any companies with registered marks protect those marks in the .co TLD in April, and those that do not should register their call signs, company names or nicknames as soon as possible in July.  If someone else registers your call sign or company name in the .co TLD before you do, it could be very difficult and costly to recover it.

It is difficult to believe that the first .com domain name was registered just 25 years ago this week.  By the end of 1985, only five .com domain names had been registered.   Ten years later there were 120,000 .com domain names.  Now, there are nearly 85 million registered .com domain names.  Beginning sometime next year (2011), ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is expected to allow companies to buy their own TLDs (meaning that your company name could follow the "dot" in a URL), although the cost is expected to be close to $200,000 per TLD.  However, Canon has already announced that it intends to apply for .canon, and it is expected that other large companies will follow suit.Continue Reading New .co Top Level Domain to be Made Available

Broadcasters need to be aware that ASCAP, BMI and SESAC (the "performing rights organizations" or PROs) don’t cover them for all uses of music – especially uses that may be made on station websites.  Offering downloads, podcasts, and streaming video featuring music all require specific permission from music rights holders.  And, as we wrote just…

Using music in commercials is not as simple as just paying your ASCAP, BMI and SESAC royalties.  While many broadcasters think that paying these royalties is enough to give them the rights to do anything they want with music on their stations, it does not.  The payments to these Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) only cover the right to publicly perform music, i.e. to broadcast it.  They do not give you the right to take the music and "synchronize" it with other words or video material, e.g.  you cannot put music in a recorded commercial or otherwise permanently fix it into a recorded audio or video production.  Instead, to make such a production, the producer needs to get the rights to both the underlying musical composition (the words and musical notes) and, if you are planning to use a particular recording of a song, the rights to use that particular recording ( the "sound recording" or "master recording").  Getting these rights may very well require that you deal both with the record company or performing artist whose recording you plan to use, and the publishing company that represents the composer of the music.  And, as some artists may have concerns about having their music used to pitch some products, getting the rights to that artist’s version of a particular song may not be easy. 

Even using the tune of a familiar song in an advertisement, with different words, is not permitted without getting the rights to do so from the publishing company.  A copyright holder in a musical composition has the right to prepare "derivative works" of that composition.  A derivative work is one that uses the original copyrighted material, but changes it somehow – like putting new words to an old tune.  Many think that "fair use" permits the making of a parody of a song, so they are allowed to use the tune as long as they produce a new version that is funny.  However, in the copyright world, fair use is not that simple.  A parody, to allow use of the original tune, must be making commentary or criticism of the original song.  Being independently funny or amusing, or otherwise dealing with some independent social or political issue, does not give you the right to use the music without securing permission from the composer of the music first.  A recent story in the Hollywood reporter’s legal blog, THR,esq.com, told the story of a Congressional candidate, Joe Walsh, who thought that it would be cute to use the music of former Eagle Joe Walsh, to make fun of Democratic politicians.  As set out in that story, Eagle Joe Walsh’s attorney did not find the campaign song very funny, and sent a very strong letter objecting to that use (the LA Times site had at one point had a link to a video of a band playing the candidate’s version of the Joe Walsh song "Walk Away", but it now says that the video has been taken down due to a copyright objection). Don’t let your station be the recipient of such a letter – get the rights to use music in commercials or other productions. Continue Reading Using Music in Advertising or In a Video Production? Secure the Necessary Rights – ASCAP, BMI and SESAC Licenses Are Not Enough

With the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics less than 2 weeks away, and March Madness not far behind, we once again need to remind our readers that all three are trademarked terms, meaning that their use, particularly for commercial purposes, is limited.  We’ve wrote here last year about the use of the term "Super Bowl" in commercials, and about the use of "Olympics" two years ago (here).  Our warning then bears repeating now – the trademarked terms should not be used in commercial messages except by authorized advertisers.  These advertisers have paid big bucks to be able to say that they are an Olympic sponsor, or that they are having a Super Bowl sale.  The holders of these trademarks enforce them rigorously (so that they can get the big bucks from the official advertisers), so don’t risk their use without official permission.  See our Super Bowl post from last year for details on how to refer to these events without running afoul of trademark limitations.

As we wrote last year, this does not prevent all use of these terms.  News reports about the events can still be given.  DJs can still chat about who is going to win the Super Bowl, or about the latest judging controversy in Ice Dancing at the Winter Olympics.  But don’t try to commercially exploit these terms (e.g. saying that you are "Springfield’s March Madness station") unless you have really paid for the rights to use the trademarked term.  Be careful, as a cute promotional idea can end up costing your station far more than you intended. Continue Reading Remember “Super Bowl”, the “Olympics” and “March Madness” Are Trademarked Terms – Don’t Use Them In Advertising Without Permission