Developments in the Legal Protection for Sound Recordings under U.S. Law

Prof. F. Jay Dougherty, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

Unlike much of the world, U.S. law treats sound recordings as works of authorship protected by copyright, but with some unique limitations. There have been several important U.S. court decisions in recent years concerning the scope of copyright in sound recordings with respect to "digital sampling", the Constitutionality of the U.S. "anti-bootlegging" statute and "common law" protection for non-U.S. sound recordings. In his presentation, Prof. Dougherty discussed these developments and their implications.