In an unprecedented expansion of common law copyright protections, the New York Court of Appeals said last week that recording artists are shielded in perpetuity under New York standards even when their foreign copyrights have long since expired. Capitol Records v. Naxos of America, No. 30.
New York now apparently stands alone in its common law protection of the intellectual property rights of composing artists. Writing on behalf of a unanimous state high court, Judge Victoria A. Graffeo said that the common law rights of performances, as opposed to published compositions, remain intact forever in New York. Practically speaking, though, federal law will pre-empt New York common law on Feb. 15, 2067.
