Copyright law gets big boost

Hard fighting copyright holders wins latest battle, but still a long way to go

Copyright has always been a big issue. Lately, with the advent of digital technology and the ubiquitous presence of the internet, it has become even more important. In fact, the Copyright Act of 1976 has been updated and amended more than ten times in the last decade.

The record industry has been at the forefront of defending copyrights during this period. They have personally brought many lawsuits against individuals, especially those involved in peer-to-peer file sharing. And as Smith and Fowler reported recently in the Wall Street Journal, the industry has taken their campaign to new heights by convincing internet access providers to take part in keeping their customers compliant with the law.

The agreement, reached by media and technology companies, is aimed at “casual infringers,” says Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America. Under the agreement, which is due to take effect later this year, media companies will inform ISPs, including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, when one of their customers illegally downloads protected content. The customer will receive a warning the first time it happens; after the fifth or sixth time, the ISP will take more aggressive action, possibly even shutting down service or reducing download speeds.

The problem is pervasive, according to Eric Garland, founder and chief executive of BigChampagne Media Measurement, which follows online usage patterns. "Tens of millions of Americans are passing entertainment media around online without permission," said Mr. Garland.

Copyright violations are not the sole purview of Americans, either. In India recently, reports the New Indian Express, Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), the licensing arm of the music industry, has just won three prominent cases involving the use of musical recordings at Fashion shows. According to the article, the lawsuits validated the authority of PPL in licensing music. PPL cited violations of music copyrights as one of the biggest challenges facing the music industry.

The tide is turning, and as an independent purveyor of original music, Sharp Audio is happy to see the impending changes. While we, due to our size, can only hope that we might manage an artist popular enough to pirate, our small profit margin renders us even more susceptible to the effects of stolen media. It is very important that we maintain the rights to our songs.

While copyright violations are a serious issue, there is a softer side, called plagiarism by its critics and homage by its proponents. With only 12 notes on the chromatic scale, even original music has a tendency to sound familiar. This is especially true with pop music, a genre that relies on tried and true formulae for its success.

Lady Gaga, one of the reigning queens of pop, recently released a new hit single, called “Born this Way.” The internet immediately lit up with bloggers who saw a similarity to Madonna’s hit, “Express Yourself.” Lady Gaga defended her song on The Tonight Show, saying that Madonna voiced her “love and complete support” for the song, reports the website Popeater. Madonna responded by posting her live performance of “Express Yourself” filmed at the MTV video awards many years ago. Her publicist denies that the singer every sent Lady Gaga a supportive email.

The single, meanwhile, has sold over 450,000 digital downloads, “…the biggest debut ever for a track by a female artist.” Lady Gaga, while acknowledging certain similarities between the two songs, denies that she stole anything from Madonna, for whom she feels nothing but adoration and love. Gaga claims the similarities are simply a result of chord progressions that have been present in music for “more than 50 years.”

The answer is for the courts to decide, should Madonna be foolish enough to pursue the case in court. As they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity, so Madonna would only be helping out her rival by calling attention to the supposed plagiarism. And as I learned recently from the book The Permission Seeker’s Guide through the Legal Jungle, by Joy Butler, there is no law against plagiarism. The law only protects against outright theft of published material, a case even Madonna would be hard pressed to make.