Reclaiming A Copyright

An interesting article in the New York Times earlier this week highlighted a feature in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 which is beneficial for artists who may want to reclaim their work after years of a record company benefiting off of their recordings; in many cases more money then they, the author, has made.

The "termination" provision allows recording artists to end agreements granting rights to their copyrights and take them back as long as they do so two years in advance and as long as the work was a contractual transfer and NOT a work made for hire. The Record Industry doesn't like it and is indicating they will fight it with an argument that the works are "works made for hire." If a record label is considered the author of a work then the termination provision (Sec. 203) cannot be applied as it only allows the termination of contractual transfers of a work not works which provide them authorship through statutes. Only time will tell as many commentators don't believe that a sound recordings will be considered "works made for hire"  are not likely to hold up in court for a variety of reasons. 

Though any artist would be smart to take advantage of this, the more well known artists and their songs which are still well recognized and known will be the first in line.

Needless to say, this is going to result in more formal transactional work for law firms as various works reach this termination period. Not all works qualify under this provision and this will also lead to litigation down the road when the applicability of the provision to a particular work is challenged.

Read the full article here: Record Industry Braces for Artists’ Battles Over Song Rights