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11 November 2022 / David Langwallner
Issue: 8002 / Categories: Features , Intellectual property , Media
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Copyright conundrums: Lost in the music

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What exactly is ‘music’ for copyright purposes? David Langwallner looks beyond the lyrics & settles the score

Musical copyright is an enigma, and as a term is something of an omnibus. Lyrics are protected via literary copyright, the musical score is protected by musical copyright, and any accompanying actions or performance can be governed by dramatic copyright. And then there is sound copyright. 

Of course, the copyrights can be bundled in ownership terms. Thus, in principle, a musical composition refers mostly to work of music as musical scores, often with accompanying lyrics, and it can be expressed in written form or in form of sound recordings.

However, the copyright for the sound recordings and for the musical score are totally distinct from each other. Sound recordings are the result of compilation of musical, spoken and other sounds in the form of a master recording. And that often leads to multiple stakeholders and different copyrights—but not always.

Jagger may have written the lyrics and Richards the music, but all copyrights, lyrics, music and sound belong to EMI, who lobbied the

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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