FROM THE HEADLINES GIRL SCOUTS AND THE FREEDOM TO SING SONGS Copyright Copyright infringement of musical works can be a costly mistake as the Blurred Lines case proved In 1996 even the Girl Scouts were targeted for what at first seemed to be a costly infringement According to US copyright law songwriters can collect royalties when their copyrighted works are used in public performances On behalf of its members the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers ASCAP collects royalties from users such as radio stations restaurants and dance clubs Each company pays from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars a year for the right to use copyrighted songs In 1995 ASCAP informed the American Camping Association that it would have to pay a licensing fee for any copyrighted music performed at its more than 2,000 camps nationwide That included music performed by Girl Scouts staying at American Camping Association sites Singing songs around a campfire is a tradition for Girl Scouts But many Girl Scout groups could not afford the licensing fees so 10
Campfire sing-alongs were a Girl Scout tradition until copyrights got involved they had to eliminate copyrighted music from their sing-alongs In the resulting 1996 media storm news programs featured sad video of Girl Scouts performing the Macarena the year’s biggest dance craze without music And newspapers featured stories about bans on such campfire favorites as Puff the Magic Dragon and This Land Is Your Land In view of the negative publicity ASCAP backed down saying it had only meant to charge professional musicians performing at large resorts The organization agreed to return any fees it had collected from Girl Scout camps 11
Federal Employee Exceptions The first copyright law in the United States was signed into effect by President Washington But today the president’s official work cannot be copyrighted Works created by officers or employees of the federal government are not entitled to US copyright protection That includes material created by the most famous federal employee of them all the president Under this exception works such as presidential inaugural speeches and state of the union addresses are not copyrightable A photograph of the president delivering a speech may be copyrighted so long as the photographer is not a federal employee In fact works by the official White House photographer are not protected by copyright Anyone including students may freely use those photographs However not everything created by US government officers or employees automatically falls under this exception Works created outside official duties such as personal letters or journals are copyrightable by the creators An idea or a fact cannot be protected by copyright Rather the particular expression of the idea or fact can be For example an author can write a biography about George Washington The author does not control exclusive rights to the facts about Washington’s life however Other authors are free to write about Washington using the same facts What is protected is each author’s words the unique expression of the common facts Also to be eligible for copyright a work must be at least minimally creative For example phone books or lists of common facts do not qualify for copyright protection In addition copyrights protect original works not those copied from another source In some cases a copyright protects a work that was created by adding to or transforming previously created material But as the case of 12
Blurred Lines indicates transforming copyrighted material can be a complicated legal matter Copyright and Consumers Musicians authors and other creators are not the only ones who need to understand copyright laws The laws also affect everyday individuals who come into contact with the creative works the copyright holders offer to the public Copyright determines how people read watch and listen to works of creative expression It especially dictates how they use and share the material In some cases not understanding or following copyright law can make the difference between legal and illegal activity Joel Tenenbaum was a college student at Boston University when his music-downloading habits gained national attention in the early 2000s Over a period of several years Tenenbaum illegally downloaded and distributed thousands of songs The music was protected by copyright and he did not pay to download it Tenenbaum realized his actions were illegal He chose to ignore warning letters from record companies informing him of the illegal use of copyrighted material Then in 2007 four record companies sued Tenenbaum for 30 counts of copyright infringement The cases corresponded to 30 specific songs he had downloaded 5 Two years later a federal jury found him guilty He was ordered to pay the record companies 22,500 for each song The total came to 675,000 Later the judge reduced the amount to 67,500 but the record companies appealed the decision 6 A circuit court 13
