{"id":602571,"date":"2023-01-27T19:50:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T01:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/27\/federal-judge-rejects-class-certification-motion-in-artists-umg-copyright-recapture-suit\/"},"modified":"2023-01-27T19:50:47","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T01:50:47","slug":"federal-judge-rejects-class-certification-motion-in-artists-umg-copyright-recapture-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/27\/federal-judge-rejects-class-certification-motion-in-artists-umg-copyright-recapture-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Rejects Class Certification Motion In Artists\u2019 UMG Copyright-Recapture Suit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Dickies, one of the acts that are suing Universal Music in an attempt to recapture copyrights. Photo Credit: SByrne1970<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A federal judge has denied a request for class certification in a lawsuit filed against Universal Music Group (UMG) by multiple artists who are attempting to reclaim their copyrights.<\/h2>\n

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued the corresponding order<\/a> today, after a group of musician plaintiffs (including The Dickies<\/a> founding members Leonard Graves Phillips and Stan Sobol\/Lee, the members of Dream Syndicate<\/a>, and singer-songwriter Syd Straw<\/a>) officially moved to obtain<\/a> class certification last April.<\/p>\n

And as noted, the mentioned artists are suing Universal Music over the rights to several decades-old projects. In brief, Section 203 of the Copyright Act is said to afford certain entertainment professionals the opportunity to terminate copyright transfers that were finalized at least 35 years back (but solely for works crafted after the start of 1978), thereby assuming full ownership of the media at hand.<\/p>\n

Consequently, a number of artists<\/a> (including acts who\u2019ve levied different suits as well as individuals outside of the industry altogether) are currently litigating to do just that. And the major labels are for obvious reasons pushing back against these efforts and trying to maintain their grip on potentially valuable masters.<\/p>\n

On the latter front, UMG has specifically called into question the validity of the plaintiffs\u2019 termination notices because the Copyright Act\u2019s recapture clause excludes each \u201cwork made for hire.\u201d<\/a> Of course, the plaintiffs have rejected the associated arguments and maintained that the projects in question weren\u2019t made for hire.<\/h4>\n

In any event, the plaintiffs had been seeking class certification for all artists (or their heirs) who filed termination notices on or after January 1st, 2013. A second proposed class would have encompassed artists and their heirs who filed termination notices after the first class had been certified but before the end of 2031.<\/p>\n

After indicating that the aforesaid \u201cwork made for hire\u201d argument is central to UMG\u2019s defense, the court explained in detail how \u201cthe need for individualized proof\u201d \u2013 i.e. whether each of the contracts is or isn\u2019t made for hire \u2013 \u201cprecludes certification of the proposed classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cApplying the Reid <\/em>test<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a framework for distinguishing between employees and non-employees when it comes to copyrighted works, that is \u2013 \u00a0\u201cto the artists in Proposed Class A requires evaluating evidence unique to each artist,\u201d today\u2019s order spells out. \u201cWhether and to what degree a record label had the right to control the manner and means of creation depends on the record label\u2019s involvement in the development of the sound recording.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court makes no determination at this stage as to whether any Plaintiff or proposed class member was an employee of the relevant record label,\u201d the legal text continues. \u201cIt merely concludes that this determination will depend on facts peculiar to each proposed class member.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Similarly, a second work-for-hire test, centering on whether the music had been \u201cspecially commissioned,\u201d likewise \u201crequires a highly individualized inquiry,\u201d according to the document. Additionally, determining the validity of a creator\u2019s \u201ctermination notice requires individualized evaluation\u201d revolving around reviewing potentially incorrect or missing information.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 claims raise issues of fairness in copyright law that undoubtedly extend beyond their own grievances,\u201d the judge concluded. \u201cHowever, the individualized evidence and case-by-case evaluations necessary to resolve those claims make this case unsuitable for adjudication on an aggregate basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Rebecka Fleishman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dickies, one of the acts that are suing Universal Music in an attempt to recapture copyrights. Photo Credit: SByrne1970 A federal judge has denied a request for class certification in a lawsuit filed against Universal Music Group (UMG) by multiple artists who are attempting to reclaim their copyrights. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":602572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[342,534,559],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-federal","category-financial","category-judge"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}