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Bringing Swirly Music to Life: Why Copyright Law Should Adopt Patent Law Standards for Joint Authorship of Sound Engineers
Andrew Nietes*
Note

The full text of this Note may be found here.

29 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media &Ent. L.J. 1201 (2019).

Note by Andrew Nietes

ABSTRACT

 

[G]

eoff Emerick, acclaimed sound engineer for The Beatles, passed away in October of 2018. Emerick helped shape The Beatles’ sound and worked to create many of their most recognized songs, yet, under the current joint authorship standards he likely would not be considered an author of these songs. This Note details the work carried out by sound engineers in the music industry and describes how current joint authorship standards affect them. It then proposes a reinterpretation of joint authorship in the copyright to statute to ease these standards by borrowing from another area of intellectual property law.

*J.D. Candidate, Fordham University School of Law, 2020; B.M., Instrumental Performance & Sociology, New York University, 2016. Thank you to Professor Ron Lazebnik for all of his help, patience, and guidance during this note-writing process. I would also like to thank the IPLJ Editorial Board and staff for their hard work and advice, particularly Senior Research & Writing Editor Sean Corrado. Finally, thank you to my parents and friends for supporting me and allowing me to bore them with conversations about music and law