Music Synchronization

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Biletsky Law - Music SyncMusic that is featured in your favorite television show, motion picture, or even commercial can create a unique connection between you and the production. In many instances, you may identify the production through the song or visa-versa. The fact that such a connection can be created just by synchronizing a song with a particular production makes certain songs that much more valuable to a production.

And herein lies the synchronization license. A synchronization license is an agreement that allows the creator or producer of a type of visual media to use a particular song, or part of a song, in synchronization with a visual media project, or in the form of advertising for the visual project.

If you are either the creator or owner of a song or a visual production, there are several factors that you need to consider:

The Length of Use

The cost of a synchronization license will depend upon the length of the song and whether the entire song is being used or just a few seconds of a song. The length that the song is being featured in the visual production will largely dictate what kind of influence the song will have. Having a song featured in its entirety will often leave a bigger association between the song and the visual production.

In some instances, where an entire song is to be featured in a visual production, a hybrid license is used where the producer of the visual media pays for the entire cost of a song for the privilege of being the first to use the song. After the song’s use, the ownership of the song will then go back to the owner of the song.

Where is the Song being Used?

Another issue to be considerate of is where the song is being used. The impression that a song gives when being featured in the opening or closing scenes is substantailly different from the situational impression that a song being used only in a specific scene gives. Since music that is being featured in the opening and closing scene of a television show or movie commands such an important role, there are premiums that must be paid for obtaining permission to use the song in such a position.

On the other hand, music that is being used for small durations will vary in cost depending on the actual length of the use and the type of use. For the use of a song in certain controversial or explicit scenes, there may need some negotiation to use more popular songs in such a scene.

The Type of Synchronization

In addition to where the song is being used and how long of the song is being used, another pivital concern is the type of use. Type of use generally refers to how the song is going to be used in the production.

Background Instrumental
Generally, instrumental music is cheaper to license than music that has a singing component to it. With a background instrumental sync, the viewers cannot see where the music is being played from and only the viewers, not the characters, can hear the music.

Background Vocal

Slightly more expensive than background instrumental is background vocal. This type of synchronization is where there are words being sang, but you cannot see where someone is singing. This is music that only the viewers can hear but the characters in the movie cannot.

Source

More expensive than background sync is a source synchronization where again, you can hear the singing, but you cannot see the the singer. However with this type of synch, the characters in the movie can hear the song. This plays a different role in the production since the characters are able to interact with the music.

Visual Instrumental

In contrast to the types of synchronization mentioned above are visual synchs. Visual instrumental is a type of synchronization where the viewer can hear the music and also see where the music is coming from.

Visual Vocal

Probably the most expensive type of sync license is a visual vocal license where you can see the person who is singing the song that is being played. The license will be even more expensive where the original singer or band of the song is playing the music.

Visual Dance

Yet another type of licensing is a visual dance sync license. This license, as it sounds, has dance components which are visable to the viewer.

As you can see, there are many different issues that come together when negotiating a synchronization license. Before you decide upon what kind of music to use in your visual production, take into consideration exactly how you plan to use the song.

For more information, or for assistance with a synchronization license, contact Biletsky Law.

Business Entity Choices

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Biletsky Law - Start your businessDeciding which type of entity is right for your business can be a tough decision. There are many factors to take into consideration such as costs, taxes, liability, and legal fees. With the different choices that are available to you, it can sometimes be daunting to try to figure out which entity type is ideal for your business.

But don’t worry, you’re not alone. While entity specifics do vary from state to state, there are general similarities and differences between the states. This article will provide you with a brief description of some of the different entity types that are available to you. Although this article will give you a breakdown of the common characteristics of each type of entity, it is always best to consult a business or corporate attorney to help you decide on the best entity type to choose.

Sole Proprietorship

Regardless of the reasons that you may choose to go solo, a sole proprietorship is certainly the easiest business entity to set up in that you are the company. If you are operating your business using your last name, the process is even more simple. This is because you will only need to file a Doing Business As (DBA) of Ficticious Business Name with the county if you are using a name in which the owner is not easily identifiable. While the cost and ease of a sole proprietorship is alluring, one of the biggest downfalls is that there is no protection from personal liability. Since you are the company, there’s nothing to shield you from liability.

Partnership

A partnership can come in several different forms but the most common is a general partnership. One thing that you may not know is that although a partnership agreement is highly recommended, there does not need to be any kind of agreement between the parties for a partnership to exist. Rather, partnerships can be implied based on the actions of the parties (such as the sharing of profits and losses). General partnerships do not provide protection from liability for the partners, however there are several types of partnerships which do offer such protection. Without going into too much detail, there are limited partnerships where there is a general partner who is subject to liability and the rest of the limited partners who are shielded from liability. Depending on the state, there are also limited liability partnerships, and limited liability limited partnerships. The important aspect of each type of partnership is that there are two or more parties who are working together and either dividing profits, losses, or workload in such a way that a partnership can be implied.

Another aspect of a partnership is the manner of taxation. Partnerships have a “pass-through” taxation structure in that they are treated as disregarded entities and you will only be taxed once. This is in comparison to some forms of corporations where there is a double taxation, which will be discussed more in the corporation section below.

Limited Liability Companies

Recently, one of the most common entity choices are limited liability companies (LLCs). LLCs are attractive entity types because they offer the protection that a corporation offers, but also offers more flexibility in the structure of the company than what is possible to do with a corporation. LLCs are also unique in that you are able to elect how the LLC is taxed. This means that you can either be subject to double taxation, like a corporation (see below) or you can be taxed as a partnership or disregarded entity would be taxed.

Other forms of flexibility that an LLC has is the structure of the company itself. LLCs can be structured or managed in a variety of ways which helps the business be controlled in a customized manner that is best for the company.

Corporations

Corporations are generally divided into two different types of entities a C-corp and an S-corp (there are other types of corporations, such as a B-corp, but this article will focus on these general types). C-corps are generally used by larger corporations and do not have the certain limitations that an S-corp has. With an S-corp, you are limited to only 100 shareholders and can only have one class of stock. Whereas a C-corp does not have such restrictions. An S-corp further has some characteristics which are similar to LLCs. Such charecteristics include the option of being taxed as a partnership and therefore having single taxation. C-corps do not have the option of receiving pass-through taxation and are subject to double taxation. Double taxation means that those earning revenue from the corporation are taxed both at the corporate level and then at the personal level.

In addition to the taxation aspect, corporations are generally seen as the most favorable busines entity by investors and shareholders. One of the reasons for this is because of certain formalities that the corporation needs to follow in order for the corporation to retain its liability barrier.

There are many different charactersitics of each entity that is not discussed in this article and it is important to be aware of all of the nuisances of each before deciding on an entity. While the decision of which entity to form is certainly very important, choosing the wrong entity and figuring that out early enough can be a saving factor as many states allow conversions between entity types (for a fee).

For help with your business entity formation needs, contact Biletsky Law.

DMCA Takedown Notice

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Biletsky Law - DMCAIn 1998 the United States enacted the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA updated various parts of the then current copyright laws. One such provision that was updated was the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA). OCILLA provides a conditional safe harbor for Online Service Providers and similar “middlemen of the internet” (think content hosting sites such as Youtube, Vimeo, etc.).

While there are many different parts of the OCILLA which provide certain protections from liability, this article will focus in particular on the Takedown Provisions. The Takedown Provisions require that in order for an Online Service Provider to be able to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions, they must comply with certain notices and in particular, any Takedown Notices. These Takedown Notices act as an easy way for content owners to be able to protect their intellectual property by notifying the service provider that their intellectual property has been infringed upon.

Once the content owner has made the service provider aware of the infringment, it is now up to the service provider to take action to stop the infringment. When a service provider complies with the Takedown Notice and removes the content, the service provider is deemed to have fulfilled their obligations under the law and they can then take advantage of the safe harbor provisions which protect them from being liable for the infringement.

If the service provider is made aware of the infringement and does not take action to prevent it, if such infingement is occuring, then the service provider may not be in compliance with the law and therefore may not be able to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions.

So how do you file one of these Takedown Notices? It is advised that if you do find out that your intellectual property is being infringed that you contact an intellectual property or entertainment lawyer immediately. However, to explain what the process is:

First, it is important to determine whether the content provider provides a way for content owners to send a Takedown Notice. Usually, this will be found in the very bottom of a website and will be under the “Terms of Use” (or similar worded page) or there may be a “DMCA” link. Within the terms or in the DMCA page, there will be a list of statements that must be sent to the service provider in order for hte Takedown Notice to be in compliance with the law:

Worded in one way or another, the following is required in order for the Takedown Notice to be effective:

(i) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
(ii) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
(iii) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.
(iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
(v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
(vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Once a Takedown Notice which includes all of the above is sent to the servie provider, it is up to them whether or not to comply. Many of the larger service providers will have certain procedures in place to determine whether there actually has been infringement and whether they should remove the content.

While what goes into the Takedown Notice is pretty much the same for every service provider, each service provider has their own protocol for dealing with the notices. You may or may not receive any kind of confirmation or response. You may eventually notice that the infringing content has been removed, or not.

If you have sent a service provider a DMCA Takedown Notice but the infringing content has not been removed, it is important that you contact an attorney to take the next steps necessary to protect your intellectual property.

Has your content been posted without your permission? Contact Biletsky Law to ensure that your intellectual property rights are protected.

2257 Regulations

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Biletsky Law - 2257Back in 1984, Penthouse Magazine caused a tidal wave of events which led to Congress enacting 18 U.S.C. §2257 and 18 U.S.C. §2257A, also known as §2257 Regulations (also, a part of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988). If you are a creating and/or distributing adult content, this is something very important that you need to be aware of.

How it All Started

It all started when Penthouse Magazine featured the then 15 year old Traci Lords in their September edition. The success that Lords received from being featured in this edition led to bigger productions which, when discovered, turned into an industry nightmare. To make a very long and complicated story short, the public outcry and lawsuits that resulted from this situation resulted in Congress passing Title 18 United States Code Section 2257 to prevent the distribution of child pornography. While the law has its own long and complex history, the important takeaway is that the law, in its modified and amended form, is a vital component to any production or website hosting adult content.

May I have your attention?

Individuals found to violate Section 2257 for their first time are subject to up to 5 years imprisonment. A second offense, will get you 2-10 years imprisonment. Hopefully, that first sentence was enough to get your attention to see how these statutes are not to be taken lightly. Furthermore, if you are in the adult entertainment industry, it is very important that you are aware and compliant of these laws.

So what is in this Section 2257?

The law itself starts out with “Whoever produces any book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, digital image, digitally- or computer-manipulated image of an actual human being, picture, or other matter which— (1) contains one or more visual depictions made after November 1, 1990 of actual sexually explicit conduct; and (2) is produced in whole or in part with materials which have been mailed or shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, or is shipped or transported or is intended for shipment or transportation in interstate or foreign commerce; shall create and maintain individually identifiable records pertaining to every performer portrayed in such a visual depiction.”

What does this mean?

What this all comes down to is if you are producing adult content, you need to maintain records for each performer that is featured. These records must sufficiently show that at the time of the performance, the performer was 18 years old or older. Furthermore, these records need to be available for federal inspection at all reasonable times.

Does this Apply to Me?

Whether these statutes apply to you depends on your role in the industry. Producers of adult content absolutely fall under this category. In fact, in 2009, the law was expanded to include secondary producers, which are those who: produces, assembles, manufactures, publishes, duplicates, reproduces, or reissues a book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, digitally- or computer- manipulated image, picture, or other matter intended for commercial distribution that contains a visual depiction of an actual human being engaged in actual sexually explicit conduct, or who inserts on a computer site or service a digital image of, or otherwise manages the sexually explicit content of a computer site or service…”

Just hosting?

Distributors or providers of “web-hosting services who does not, and reasonably cannot, manage the sexually explicit content of the computer site or service” are said to not fall within the category of those required to keep records. But that doesn’t necessarily get you off the hook. The industry standard (or at least, what should be industry standard) is for any distributor or host of adult content to include within their “Terms of Use” a special Section 2257 disclaimer which either provides for a link to the producers who should have the records, or a disclaimer stating that the website has no control over the material or was not responsible for its’ creation.

Conclusion

If you are producing adult content, you are playing a dangerous game if you do not have a proper record keeping protocol for your performers. Distributors and content hosts are in a somewhat better position, but it is still essential that a Section 2257 disclaimer be somewhere visible on the hosting platform as an extra step towards protection from liability.

For more information on Section 2257 regulations or for assistance with becoming 2257 compliant, contact Biletsky Law.

Defamation 101

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Going back to your years on the playground, who would have thought that the bully who was calling other people names or spreading rumors about someone may have been Biletsky Law - Defamation piccommitting defamation. Defamation is a broad area of law that encompasses libel and slander (keep these two in mind as I’ll discuss the difference between the two further below). The actual definition for libel is “a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy, or other fixed representation to the eye, which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him in his occupation.”

Before going into the difference between libel and slander, here are the California elements for finding that someone has committed defamation: (Cal. Civ. Code §§ 44, 45a, and 46.)

1. publication of a statement of fact

2. that is false,

3. unprivileged,

4. has a natural tendency to injure or which causes “special damage,” and

5. the defendant’s fault in publishing the statement amounted to at least negligence.

Publication

1. Publication means that the statement was communicated to a third party who understands the meaning of the statement and who it is applied to. The requirement to constitute publication is VERY low. Any posting online easily fulfills the requirement and only 1 person needs to understand that the statement is defamatory and who it is directed to. For instance, posting that “someone has a sexually transmitted disease” on its face won’t appear to be defamatory, but so long as 1 person that reads that post knows who you are talking about, this element is met.

Falsity

2. Falsity is the entire basis of defamation. If what you are saying is true, there cannot be defamation and truth is an absolute defense to a defamation claim.

Unprivileged

3. “Privilege” comes in a few different ways such as the fair report privilege, the opinion and fair comment privileges, and substantial truth. Fair report comes from a public document or statement. Opinion and fair comment are based on opinions and subjects that can’t necessarily be proven true or false. For instance, “I think he’s an idiot” compared to “I think he’s a murderer”, the idiot statement would likely fall under the opinion and fair comment privilege while the murderer statement probably won’t. Courts look at the “totality of the circumstances” in determining whether the privilege applies. Substantial truth requires that the statement be mostly true, it doesn’t have to be 100% true, but mostly.

Damages

4. Generally, a defamation claim requires some kind of injury/damages to have been suffered. California does it a little differently than other states in that damages are not necessary if the statement is defamatory on its face. This means that no other evidence is needed to show that it is defamatory. For instance “he must of done something to have won that game” is arguably not defamatory on its face because you need more information in order to come to the conclusion that it is defamatory. “He only won the game because he cheated” would be defamatory on its face since there is no other evidence needed to see that the statement is defamatory.

Fault

5. Negligence can be a complicated topic but generally speaking, it is when a person is not acting with the reasonable level care that is due in a situation. This element goes towards the truth of the statement. For instance, if someone tells you that a guy killed someone and you post that online without looking it up, or figuring out if it was true, you likely acted negligent as to determining whether the statement was true or not. This last element is a huge part of the law and it varies when dealing with different people. A private person has the lowest standard whereas a public figure (those in the “public spotlight” for one reason or another would likely be considered a public figure, or a limited public figure) requires that there be actual malice for a finding of defamation. To put it simply, actual malice means that the person that wrote the defamation purposefully wrote it to injure the other person.

Libel v. Slander

Going back to libel versus slander, slander is a defamatory statement that is spoken and libel is a defamatory statement that is written. There are certain types of slander which are automatically defamatory. These are statements that convey that someone is a criminal, that someone has a disease, something that injures them professionally, and a statement about someone’s sexuality (they’re a cheater, impotent, etc.)

So, that is a VERY brief crash course in defamation. This area of law is substantially more complicated and there’s a lot more to it as well. For more information on or legal help dealing with slander, libel, and defamation, contact Biletsky Law.

Trademark Classes

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Biletsky Law - Trademark ClassificationA common misperception about trademark law is that once you have registered a trademark, that you own all of the rights to the name, logo, or brand (these are referred to as the “mark”). In reality, this is not necessarily the case. When registering a trademark, one of the essential steps is choosing which class best fits your product or service. Once the trademark application survives the examination process, you will then receive the trademark rights to your mark in the particular class that you selected.

For example, Coca-Cola may have originally registered their mark as a beverage (Perhaps under Class 032 – Beers and Beverages). At that point, someone who sold couches and other furniture (Class 020 – Furniture) under the name Coca-Cola would likely have been permitted to use the name Coca-Cola because there isn’t a high likelihood of confusion amongst consumers. A likelihood of confusion is the standard for trademark infringment, but that’s a whole other topic for another article!

Nowadays, because of the massive branding around Coca-Cola, and the possibility of the company having registered their mark under a multitude of different classes, the opportunities for other people to come up and use the name in a different product or service is diminishing.

Before getting back to what the different classes mean, here is a little history on the classification system. In 1957, the Nice Agreement, or the “Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks” established a set of classifications to be used as the basis of registering trademarks.

One of the underlying purposes for establishing this class system was to set up a uniform method for making it easier for trademarks to be classified appropriately regardless of the country of origin of the mark. As of now, the Nice Classification had been adopted by 84 different countries and contains over 11,000 detailed descriptions of different products and services.

Now that you have a basic understanding of what classes are, and where they came from, we can dive into what this all means for you. The classes are divided into two major subsects, Products and Services. There are 34 product classes and 11 service class. Each of these classes are further divided into descriptions. For instance if you are selling camoflauge t-shirts the class would be 025 – Clothing and the description would be “Camoflauge T-shirt.”

Each class has a separate filing fee which ranges between $225 and $375. However, descriptions within each class can be added at no additional fee. So, going off the t-shirt example, if you are also selling dress shirts and sweat shirts, there is no additional fee to include those descriptions in your trademark application.

So, if you have enough money to be able to register your trademark under each class, you’ll be able to have the trademark rights to your mark for pretty much everything, right? Well, not exactly. Trademarks are based upon the use of the mark in commerce. However there are many situations where you may wish to obtain the trademark rights to a product or service but you may not be using the mark in those service quite yet.

That’s where the “Intent to Use” basis comes in. What this means is that you are not currently using the trademark for that product or service, but you intend to do so. However, you cannot just state that you intend to use the mark for every product or service, rather you need to have a bonafide intent to do so. The trademark application even requires you to state that you intend to use that particular class, under penalty of perjury. This means that lying about whether you had the intent to use the product or class can come with serious consequences.

So that is a crash course about the classification system for trademarks. There are many other nuansces to the the trademark process and for the classification selection process. Before submitting a trademark application, it is important that you speak with an intellectual property attorney to help you choose which class is best for your product or service.

For more information on trademarks or the classification system, contact Biletsky Law.