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11 November 2022 / David Langwallner
Issue: 8002 / Categories: Features , Intellectual property , Media
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Copyright conundrums: Lost in the music

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What exactly is ‘music’ for copyright purposes? David Langwallner looks beyond the lyrics & settles the score

Musical copyright is an enigma, and as a term is something of an omnibus. Lyrics are protected via literary copyright, the musical score is protected by musical copyright, and any accompanying actions or performance can be governed by dramatic copyright. And then there is sound copyright. 

Of course, the copyrights can be bundled in ownership terms. Thus, in principle, a musical composition refers mostly to work of music as musical scores, often with accompanying lyrics, and it can be expressed in written form or in form of sound recordings.

However, the copyright for the sound recordings and for the musical score are totally distinct from each other. Sound recordings are the result of compilation of musical, spoken and other sounds in the form of a master recording. And that often leads to multiple stakeholders and different copyrights—but not always.

Jagger may have written the lyrics and Richards the music, but all copyrights, lyrics,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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