N.Y. judge strikes down anti-bootleg law
A federal judge struck down a 1994 law banning the sale of bootleg recordings of live music, ruling the law unfairly grants “seemingly perpetual protection” to the original performances.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. found the bootleg law was written by Congress in the spirit of federal copyright law, which protects writing for a fixed period of time — typically for the life of the author and 70 years after the author’s death. The judge said the bootleg law, which was passed “primarily to cloak artists with copyright protection,” could not stand because it places no time limit on the ban. Baer also noted that copyright law protects “fixed” works — such as books or recorded music releases — while bootlegs, by definition, are of live performances.
The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group that fights piracy and bootlegging, also disagreed with the ruling.
The law did not apply to piracy, which is the unauthorized copying or sale of recorded music, such as albums.
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