How can a film composer or film producer avoid copyright infringement for music?

How can a film composer/producer avoid copyright infringement for music used in a film production?

Byron Pascoe: The way to avoid copyright infringement with respect to music in productions is to not infringe someone’s copyright; i.e., to create original music. It’s as simple as that. There are only so many keys, chords, and options with respect to music, but as a producer, you’ll want to ensure that if you’re hiring someone to create music, that they’re not copying from other people; that they’re creating original work that’s based on some form of skill and judgment, it’s original to them or the people you’re hiring collectively, and it’s not copying other works.

If a producer receives notice from another lawyer or artist or manager that the music in that person’s production infringes upon another person’s rights, they should contact their lawyer, and the lawyer should quickly thereafter contact the film insurance broker. The lawyer’s role would be to review the situation, see if it’s frivolous or legitimate; e.g., it may be that there was a creative collaborator and we thought that there was an agreement with this person but there wasn’t, there may have been an unsigned contract, etc. These things should have been figured out when the lawyer was doing their due diligence earlier but it’s possible that something fell through the cracks.

Or someone may have just heard something in a movie and feels like something they created in their basement sounds similar. There’s a variety of different possible claims that someone might make and the film producer should contact their lawyer immediately. Be upfront about the specific circumstances. Does the producer have a relationship with this person? Tell the lawyer everything and the lawyer will review it to determine if the demand is reasonable or not and what we’re collectively going to do about it.

Byron Pascoe is an entertainment lawyer and partner at Edwards Creative Law

Are you a producer in Canada or the US? Get a quote for producer’s E&O insurance here.

Related:

• How can a film producer obtain permission to use content protected by copyright?
• How much of your production’s format is “copyrightable”?
• Producer’s E&O clearance procedures
• eBook: Producer's E&O insurance 101
• YouTube: Errors and omissions insurance (E&O) – Byron Pascoe

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