Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California
If an amateur recorder attends a concert for a musician and uses armature recording devices such as a cell phone to record the artist and they upload the content to the internet and someone else copies it is this content free to use or host on a website and the recorder holds no rights to the content? i understand that the musician can probably claim rights to the content but that is not the question. The question is about the amateur recorder. thanks. This question is applicable to North America
1 Answer from Attorneys
You make a big point to say "amateur" over and over, which means to me, making no money off of it (vs. a pro who gets paid). The law does not make a distinction between amateur and professional works, and the difference would only be relevent to damages. An amateur can still incur liability if the original authors (the musician(s)) are damaged. The copyrightable material does not become "free to use or host" because an amateur shot the video.
A video person may hold his own intellectual property rights to any copyrightable aspect of the video -- such as the artistic way in which it was shot, edited, arranged, formatted. But, the video person never holds the intellectual property rights to the underlying subject work -- such as the musician's performance.
You didn't say how this applies to you, so that's really the best I can do. I hope that answers your Q, though. If you still have additional Qs, I highly recommend you go see an IP lawyer in Cali.
Regards (and Happy Holidays!),
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