Friday, December 18, 2009

Billboard: 'The five legal cases that defined the year in music'

My year-end Billboard piece is available online. Here's the intro:

The five legal cases that defined the year in music

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Almost a decade after the major labels launched their legal assault on Napster, courts are still writing the rules of the road for the music business's digital future.

Companies can't set out to build a business based on their users' infringement of copyright, courts had already ruled. But the precise meaning of that dictate remains in doubt. What steps must sites take to combat infringement? What are the proper penalties for those who infringe? This year, courts inched toward resolution of these questions, giving labels, publishers and artists a bit more certainty as they decide whom to work with and whom to sue.

And what are the five? Read the whole thing...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments here are moderated. I appreciate substantive comments, whether or not they agree with what I've written. Stay on topic, and be civil. Comments that contain name-calling, personal attacks, or the like will be rejected. If you want to rant about how evil the RIAA and MPAA are, and how entertainment companies' employees and attorneys are bad people, there are plenty of other places for you to go.

 
http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.com/