Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: ''Rights of Dead Musician''

You can check if his name is a Trademark on the Trademark office site at www.uspto.gov . Now, when you make the request for the Sync rights, the Publisher is going to ask you the use and then they will tell you if it is trademarked or not. But more importantly, most Publishers have the right to license the name of their writers in connection with the track (song), and under normal situations, they want you crediting their writer, thus using John Doe's name. As far as using the persons name on the CD cover, that is generally permissable, under the fact scenario you have given, but their are exceptions and it is too complicated to set it out here. Feel free to contact me directly.

Re: ''Rights of Dead Musician''

Before even reaching the trademark issues in this matter, the most important rights you are looking at are 1) the right of publicity; and 2) the copyright to the song. I will try to address these briefly.

Copyright: First, the songs as compositions are copyrighted (i.e. melody, and lyrics). Secondly the songs are copyrighted as sound recordings (i.e., John Doe's actual recorded song as it sounds on CD�s for sale). To use these songs in the manner you mentioned, whereby you record �covers� of the song, ordinarily it would be a relatively simple matter. You could simply get a �compulsory� license from a licensing agency such as Harry Fox for a set rate, without asking anyone for the rights. This means that if I want to record a cover of a famous �Beatles� track I could under the right circumstances.

However, �compulsory� licenses do not apply to use of the song in movies/DVD�s/video. Use of songs in movies and the like require a special license called a �sync� license (i.e., to sync the music with the image). This will require you to get clearance from the copyright holder for the song �composition� (i.e., the lyrics and melody), NOT the sound recording (i.e., John Doe's actual recorded song as it sounds on CD�s for sale).

Right of Publicity: Celebrities and ordinary people have a right to control the use of their names, likeness and images. It is not a defense to infringing this right to say that you only used a person�s name. In fact in many states the right of a dead person to control these things has been recognized. Again, you will most likely have to clear the rights here as well from the party that holds them (e.g., John Doe�s estate). For more information on the right of publicity feel free to read an article that I wrote at: http://www.wrlawfirm.com/Articles/wrm.article.rightofpublicity.html

Best of Luck and if you would like to schedule a consultation at no cost, feel free to call my office,

Kaiser

Wahab Riveles & Medenica LLC

116 West 23rd Street, Suite 500

New York, NY 10010

(646) 375-2363

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