Legal Question in Business Law in New York

business property

My brother died 4/25. He was a videographer for 30 years and has original materials from some well-known clients who are performers. They want their original works because to keep someone else from profiting off of selling their performances, AND I don't know why else. My brother had no $ - on public assistance and in debt with no one designated as responsible for his ''estate''. His has never been married & has children who are estranged since birth - 30 years ago. I am cleaning his office and have no use for the original materials, but am I obligated to honor his clients' requests to return their tapes, video, interviews, etc...? Also, everyone says that they are paid in full, but my brother had no paperwork - no contracts. He left little paper trial of how he invoiced and received payment. He was working on 10 or so separate jobs before he suddenly died. If I find items - may I charge them a fee to have it returned? Please provide me with some guidance! Thank you.


Asked on 6/01/08, 7:14 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nancy Delain Delain Law Office, PLLC

Re: business property

My condolences on the death of your brother and on your unhappy task of sorting through his estate. This is a tough time for you.

This is a copyright question, not a business question, and lucky for you I practice copyright law. This question should actually have been placed in the "Intellectual Property" category. But never mind.

Under the copyright law, the performers have the copyright in their performances, but your brother has copyright in the depiction of their performances (the choices made by the director (your brother) vs. the performance as one would see it on a stage (the performers)). This conundrum can really only be fully resolved by contract between the parties, and most videographers require a written release from the performers before they videotape anything. Evidently your brother did not, which leaves the performers with a copyright claim, and the right to access the work to which they have rights.

Charging more than a small amount of money to return the videos to these performers is pretty murky water since they have rights in the performance and there's nothing in writing. There is, though nothing that says they don't have to pay shipping and handling on their works. That's one possible solution.

BTW, unless your brother was Alfred Hitchcock and these videos are the original reels of "Psycho," don't get into a copyright battle, or even discussion, with the performers. It's really not worth it. Just charge shipping and handling and get the videos to them.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

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Answered on 6/01/08, 10:37 am


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