Photo: Wikimedia Commons California Federal Court Sorts Out Ownership Issues In Dispute Over Record Albums
Approval of all the co-owners of a copyrighted work is needed to grant exclusive rights to third parties. Despite that, any co-owner can sell that co-owner's exclusive ownership share to third parties without the permission of the others The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California recently released an opinion that considered the interplay of these copyright issues.
September 13, 2021 at 02:43 PM
5 minute read
Each co-owner of a copyright can independently grant third parties non-exclusive rights in the work, but approval of all the co-owners is needed to grant exclusive rights to third parties. Despite that, under U.S. copyright law, any co-owner of the work can sell that co-owner's exclusive ownership share to third parties without the permission of the other co-owners.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California recently released an opinion that considered the interplay of these copyright issues. In Yellowcake Inc. v. Morena Music Inc., 1:20-CV-0787, Jesus Chavez Sr., the founder of the Mexican music group Los Originales De San Juan, had entered into an agreement in 2013 for a three-album deal for his band with the record label Morena Music.
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