The story
SiriusXM is a radio broadcasting company in the United States of America. They (as well as other radio stations) have been known to broadcast songs published pre 1972 without paying the owner of the copyrights royalty.They did this with full confidence that the law was on their side.
The Turtles are a rock band popular in the mid to late 1960s with many songs published prior to 1972. In August of 2013 Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, who own the copyright of the songs recorded by the Turtles, filed a class action lawsuit against Sirius for royalties owed to them for broadcasting their songs. This past week a judge gave a summary judgement in their favor; ordering SiriusXM to pay the plaintiffs a hundred million dollars in damages.
The Law:
The copyright law in the United States with respect to sound recordings prior to 1972 is a bit strange. Back in 1909 congress decided that it was unconstitutional to allow for sound recordings to be copyrighted since it was not in writing. So instead the sound recordings were protected mainly through the law of individual states and various torts.
Fast forward to 1971 when The Sound Recordings Amendment extended copyright to include sound recordings, but only those which were recorded on or after February 15th, 1972; songs recorded prior to this date (including the songs by the Turtles) would be protected under the law of individual states. The current statute governing copyright, the Copyright Act of 1976, did nothing to change the law and simply confirmed the 1971 amendment.
It was unclear for the longest time to what degree songs pre-1972 were protected under the federal copyright act, or whether they were protected at all. Until this case, the only real clarification on the matter came from the Copyright Royalties Board’s ruling on a dispute between Soundexchange, an organisation the collects and distributes royalty payments, and SiriusXM. They held that Sirius did not have to pay royalty payments for songs recorded prior to 1972.
The significance:
With the current decision, sound recordings copyrighted in America prior to 1972 will be seemingly afforded the same protection as songs copyrighted after 1972 in terms of royalty payments. This means that businesses and organisations beyond digital radio stations will have to start paying for using “old music”.
What will be interesting to see is whether the pre-1972 sound recordings are subject to the same advantages and disadvantages of the federal copyright act, beyond just royalty payments. For example it was not unusual for the copyright law of individual states to give copyright protection for sound recordings for periods longer than the “70 years after the death of the last author” rule that exists now. So now, does the copyright duration of songs recorded prior to 1972 follow the 70 years after death rule, or not?
Sources:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6259277/siriusxm-copyright-battle-ruling
http://online.wsj.com/articles/sirius-xm-plans-to-appeal-decision-in-turtles-lawsuit-1412205924
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140415/07051726917/recording-industry-wants-to-have-it-both-ways-when-it-comes-to-pre-1972-recordings.shtml
Update:
Looks like Sirius XM is Appealing the decision:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/sirius-xm-plans-to-appeal-decision-in-turtles-lawsuit-1412205924
