Category Archives: Legal Resources

The Six Rights of Copyright – Part IV: The Right to Publicly Perform

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The Right to Publicly Perform is the fourth part in our series on what makes a Copyright.  The prior three rights reviewed are linked below for you to get up to speed.  To refresh, the six parts of copyright are: The right to reproduce the copyrighted work The right to prepare derivative works based upon the work The right to distribute copies of the work to the public The right to publicly perform the copyrighted work The right to publicly display the copyrighted work (sound recording only) The right to digitally transmit to publicly perform the copyrighted work To try to get behind the curtain of copyright, we’re individually exploring each of these six rights.  An understanding of each and how they operate will allow you, the creator, to be in a better position to take advantage of your copyright. There are a couple words of caution.  First, the practical effect of these exclusive rights will depend on the type of copyrighted work (literary works, musical works, motion pictures, sound recordings, etc.).  Second, these are exclusive rights.  The law allows only the copyright holder to exercise these rights. IV.  The Right to Publicly Perform the Copyrighted Work   The right to publicly perform means onlyRead more →

Royalty Free Samples: A Peculiar Problem of Producing Music

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A common question from DJs and music producers is: “what right do I have to create and protect my own music using ‘royalty free’ samples, beats, and loops?”  Can you copyright work that you derive from these sources?  The simple answer is yes, if certain requirements are met.  This situation is a textbook example of derivative works and rights (one of the six exclusive rights of copyright).  Artists can copyright derivative musical works as long as they had the necessary permission to use the original source material.  Let’s break down the issue in detail: 1.      The source material must be “royalty free”, or really, “royalties paid”, for you to use them in your own music.   As a refresher, there are typically two parties in music business who own the bundle of rights we call “copyright” and would want a royalty if their music is used.  The first are the owners of the musical compositions themselves (the arrangement, lyrics, etc.), typically music publishing companies, who have purchased these rights from the original musicians.  The second are the owners of the master recordings, typically the record labels. Say, for example, you wanted to use a sample from the Rolling Stones songRead more →

The Six Rights of Copyright – Part III: The Right to Prepare Derivative Works

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This is the third part in our series on what makes a copyright.  If you’re just jumping in, take a look at the first two parts linked below to get caught up.  To refresh, the six parts of copyright are: The right to reproduce the copyrighted work The right to prepare derivative works based upon the work The right to distribute copies of the work to the public The right to publicly perform the copyrighted work The right to publicly display the copyrighted work (sound recording only) The right to digitally transmit to publicly perform the copyrighted work To try to get behind the curtain of copyright, we’re individually exploring each of these six rights.  An understanding of each of these rights and how they operate will allow you, the creator, to be in a better position to take advantage of your copyright. There are a couple words of caution.  First, the practical effect of these exclusive rights will depend on the type of copyrighted work (literary works, musical works, motion pictures, sound recordings, etc.).  Second, these are exclusive rights.  The law allows only the copyright holder to exercise these rights. III.  The Right to Prepare Derivative Works A derivative work starts with a pre-existing, copyrighted work.  A different author thenRead more →

The Six Rights of Copyright – Part II: The Right to Distribute

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This is the second part in our series on what makes a copyright: the Right to Distribute.  If you’ve not already been so kind, have a look at Part I (the right to reproduce the work).  To refresh, the six parts of copyright are: The right to reproduce the copyrighted work The right to prepare derivative works based upon the work The right to distribute copies of the work to the public The right to publicly perform the copyrighted work The right to publicly display the copyrighted work (sound recording only) The right to digitally transmit to publicly perform the copyrighted work To try to get behind the curtain of copyright, we’re going to individually explore each of these six rights.  An understanding of each of these rights and how they operate will allow you, the creator, to be in a better position to take advantage of your copyright. There are a couple words of caution.  First, the practical effect of these exclusive rights will depend on the type of copyrighted work (literary works, musical works, motion pictures, sound recordings, etc.).  Second, these are exclusive rights.  The law allows only the copyright holder to exercise these rights. II.  The Right to Distribute The exclusive rightRead more →

The Six Rights of Copyright – Part I: The Right to Reproduce

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Figuring out what copyright actually protects is truly a dizzying concept.  The fact that copyright actually has traditionally covered a bundle of five exclusive rights makes matters more complicated.  Things became even more confusing when Congress added a pseudo sixth exclusive right in 1995.  These six rights are: The right to reproduce the copyrighted work The right to prepare derivative works based upon the work The right to distribute copies of the work to the public The right to publicly perform the copyrighted work The right to publicly display the copyrighted work (sound recording only) The right to digitally transmit to publicly perform the copyrighted work To try to get behind the curtain of copyright, we’re going to individually explore each of these six rights.  An understanding of each of these rights and how they operate will allow you, the creator, to be in a better position to take advantage of your copyright. There are a couple words of caution.  First, the practical effect of these exclusive rights will depend on the type of copyrighted work (literary works, musical works, motion pictures, sound recordings, etc.).  Second, these are exclusive rights.  The law allows only the copyright holder to exercise these rights. I.  The Right to ReproduceRead more →