Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Are radio broadcasts considered public domain?

You Win.

Even though the radio braodcast is offered "free of charge" and can be (copied) recorded and replayed for the listener's own personal use and enjoyment, your friend has no right to rebroadcast or "publicly perform" the music without a license to do so.

Further, under the scenario you described, your friend is not only infringing the rights of the music groups, artists and studios, but since the "free" radio is usually supported by ADVERTISING, unless your friend is copying and rebroadcasting the commercials too, he may be unfairly competing with and otherwise economically damaging the party who originally broadcast the music as he is depriving them of their right to $.

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Re: Are radio broadcasts considered public domain?

It sounds as if your friend is setting himself up for a very expensive surprise. Copyrighted songs on the radio are NOT public domain. For the most part, public domain begins 70 years after the death of the original creator.

The fact that your friend has the right to listen to the radio does not give him the right to re-use the performance publicly. It also sounds as if your friend is engaged in competition with the radio stations he is stealing from (and I do mean "stealing").

Think of it this way: a copyright is a piece of property like any other, and the right to use a copyrighted work does not mean you own the work, any more than renting an apartment means you own the building.

Tell your friend to take the copyrighted material off his site immediately. Record companies and studios are getting much more agressive about protecting their rights on the Internet and their legal departments and law firms even hire people to do nothing but surf the net looking for infringers.