The Sound Recording Simplification Act (H.R. 2933) was
introduced in the U.S. House last week, seeking to extend U.S. copyright
protection to sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972. Presently, §301(c) of the U.S. Copyright
Act provides that federal copyright law does not preempt the common law and statutes
of any U.S. state with respect to sound recordings fixed before February 15,
1972. This preemption prohibition drops out in 95 years – by February 15, 2067.
The newly proposed legislation would delete this section entirely to provide
exclusive Copyright Act protection to these sound recordings – now.
All the great hits of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Buddy
Holly, Charlie Parker, The Beach Boys, The Big Bopper and more, that were fixed
prior to February 15, 1972, are presently protected by local and state laws,
including criminal laws, right of publicity laws, and a patchwork of other
laws. This lack of uniformity, consistency and clarity in protecting this
material has been a concern to librarians, historians, archivists and other
users. On the other hand, the music industry has developed a comfort level, for
the most past, with the present system by creating contract-based relationships
and contract work-arounds.
Recorded radio broadcasts of the Four Horsemen, recorded
civil rights speeches, recorded scholarly lectures and interviews by Faulkner,
Einstein and others, and a host of additional historical material, would be protected
in a uniform and certain manner by extending the exclusivity of the Copyright Act to these sound recordings.
Frankly, it makes sense to bring all copyrightable work
under the wing of protection of uniform federal copyright law. The development
of new digital technologies that permit enhanced access to new and historical
works can best be regulated under a definitive and uniform national law. Since
the present Copyright Act is the vehicle for national protection of all copyrightable
work, except for pre February 15, 2067 sound recordings, the elimination of
this singular exception will assist the uniform protection of
all work in the face of new technologies.
“Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio …”
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