Report: State Laws Hinder Access To Audio
The Library of Congress on Thursday released the fifth in a series of landmark studies that highlight challenges facing cultural institutions that specialize in the preservation and public access to historic recorded sound materials. The absence of a federal copyright law to protect pre-1972 recordings is inhibiting the preservation and accessibility of much of America's aural heritage because that audio is governed by a confusing array of state laws, common law and judicial decisions, the library said.
The paper, commissioned by Congress and published by the Council on Library and Information Resources, examines copyright laws in 10 states related to sound recordings released before 1972. It authors conclude that state anti-piracy laws alone do not define the legal uses of pre-1972 recordings. Legal uses of the recordings are also impacted by common law copyright, unfair-competition laws, rights of privacy, and federal copyright law related to underlying works, such as musical compositions. Read the full report here.
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Intellectual Property
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