ABKCO MUSIC, INC., COLGEMS-EMI MUSIC INC., EMI ALGEE MUSIC CORP., EMI APRIL MUSIC INC., EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC., EMI CONSORTIUM MUSIC PUBLISHING, INC., DBA EMI FULL KEEL MUSIC, EMI CONSORTIUM SONGS, INC., DBA EMI LONGITUDE MUSIC, EMI FEIST CATALOG INC., EMI ROBBINS CATALOG INC., EMI UNART CATALOG, INC., JOBETE MUSIC CO., INC., SCREENGEMS-EMI MUSIC INC., STONE AGATE MUSIC, STONE DIAMOND MUSIC CORP., IMAGEM MUSIC LLC, PEER INTERNATIONAL CORP., PSO LTD., PEERMUSIC LTD., PEERMUSIC III, LTD., SONGS OF PEER, LTD., SPIRIT CATALOG HOLDINGS S.A.R.L, SPIRIT TWO MUSIC, INC., WARNER-TAMERLANE PUBLISHING CORP., WB MUSIC CORP., Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants-Appellees-Cross-Appellants, v. WILLIAM SAGAN, NORTON LLC, BILL GRAHAM ARCHIVES, LLC, DBA WOLFGANG'S VAULT, DBA CONCERT VAULT, DBA MUSIC VAULT, DBA DAYTROTTER, Defendants-Counterclaimants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees., 50 F.4th 309
Summary
HOLDINGS: [1]-The district court properly concluded that defendants' exploitation of the recordings was unlicensed because defendants failed to satisfy 17 U.S.C.S. § 115's substantive requirements, which applied when a person seeks to duplicate a sound recording fixed by another; therefore, defendants infringed on the audiovisual works; [2]-The court also held that defendants' recordings were not fixed by another for the purposes of Section 115, and therefore vacated the district court's summary judgment ruling to the extent it found defendants to have infringed any of the musical works due to a failure to satisfy that section's substantive requirements.