Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Florida

Re: Teen Band & Copyright

Copyrights protect works of authorship from the moment they the works are created ('fixed' in a medium). Copyrights are initially held by the original author(s) and may be assignable (ownership transferred) or licensed (all or part of the rights to use the work transferred).

As for the particular works associated with the band: the musical composition may be copyrighted by the author(s), the lyrics separately may be copyrighted by the author(s); the band name may be trademarked if it is used in commerce for the sale of goods/services; the myspace page probably contains pictures and such which may be copyrighted by the photographer and or subjects of the picture, the people in the pictures have their own rights to exploitation of their images, and any text in the myspace page may be copyrighted by the author(s).

From the facts you have given, the mother of the former singer has no intellectual property rights to any of the works in question. If the former singer has rights (he performed songs, took pictures for the band, etc), and the works are being used (in any form), then the former singer has rights - in proportion to his contribution to the work as a whole, I would venture to say. His mom may have the ability to sue on his behalf, as he is a minor, if he/they wanted to claim royalties for works in which the former singer has rights.

You should tell the former singer's mommy to take a long leap off of a short pier. She doesn't own anything and is not herself entitled to anything, in my opinion. If she is going to sell a CD containing work in which others have rights (your son, other band members), and you have not signed a contract with her for licensing/royalties/assignment, then you can sue her for a 'whole bunch of things.' If the issue proceeds any further, you should retain an intellectual property, preferrably one with experience in copyright litigation.

Hope that helps.