Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Florida

Fair Use of Music Samples?

We frequently encounter clients who wish to reproduce samples of music for inclusion on multimedia CD-ROMs. I wonder if there is any amount of copyrighted music (seconds, bars, etc.) that can be reproduced as Fair Use.

Our customers are typically educational publishers or university affiliates who replicate small numbers (usually 1,000 or under) of CD-ROMs. I don't know if that is taken into consideration or not.


Asked on 11/17/99, 1:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bruce Burdick Burdick Law Firm

Re: Fair Use of Music Samples?

No. The statute does not specify any minimum unmodified portion of a copyrighted work you can copy without liability. However, the Act does suggest that educational institutions may please good faith belief that the copying was a fair use to avoid statutory damages and require a copyright owner to prove actual damages. This makes the damages so low for any individual small portion of a song you would use that there is essentially no effective remedy for the copyright owner unless ASCAP or BMI or some other artists' rep can pool the artists in a claim against you. But, they have bigger fish to fry.

Read more
Answered on 11/17/99, 5:15 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Intellectual Property questions and answers in Florida