Copyright Law

Allen Bargfrede

Authored by Allen Bargfrede

|

Course Code: OMBUS-385

Navigate the complexities of modern copyright in the age of streaming and AI. This undergraduate music business course explains how copyright law protects your creative work, helps you monetize it, and safeguards it from infringement.

Level 3
Intermediate Plus
Modality
Online
Duration
12 Weeks
3-Credit Tuition
$1,575 $1,275

Save $300 until Mar 16!
Semester Starts
Apr 6
Accreditation
NECHE

Key Learning Outcomes

  • Analyze and interpret copyright court cases to understand how legal decisions affect creative works and the music industry
  • Explain how copyright law applies to music and digital media, including infringement, defenses, and potential penalties
  • Evaluate copyright risks and protections in modern contexts such as streaming platforms, user-generated content, and AI
  • Apply copyright principles to protect and monetize your own creative works
Overview Syllabus Requirements Instructors Related Music Career Role
Request Info

Need guidance?

1-866-BERKLEE Int'l: +1-617-747-2146

Call, Text, or Email us

Course Description

With more music available than ever before and generative AI giving you the ability to write a song with just a text prompt, understanding copyright law has never been more important—or more challenging. Whether you're sharing your music through streaming platforms, social media, download services, or licensing it for video games, TV, or film, these are all vital revenue streams that rely on the core principles of copyright to ensure fair compensation for songwriters and performers. In this class, you'll get a full overview of how creative works are protected by copyright law and what rights you have as a creator.

Read More

Copyright Law teaches you the basics of copyright—what it protects and how it works—while giving you the tools to monetize your work and guard it against unauthorized use. You’ll learn by analyzing real-world court cases and exploring how copyright law has been shaped by legislation passed by the United States Congress. Topics include your six exclusive rights as a copyright owner, how to register your work, how long copyright protection lasts, what constitutes infringement, what remedies are available, and how the “fair use” defense works. You’ll also dig into compulsory royalty rates for technologies like interactive streaming, landmark new media cases such as Napster and Grokster, and the international treaties that protect your work overseas.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Determine whether works qualify for copyright protection, including musical compositions, sound recordings, derivative works, and digital content
  • Apply fair use analysis and DMCA procedures to real-world scenarios involving streaming, sampling, AI, and user-generated content
  • Navigate licensing, royalty structures, and rights transfers in contemporary music distribution and streaming environments
  • Apply fair use analysis and enforcement mechanisms, including DMCA takedowns and statutory remedies, to contemporary music and digital media scenarios
Read Less

Syllabus

Lesson 1: Historical Perspective on Copyright

  • History of the Music Industry
  • Cylinder to Audiocassettes
  • Digitalization of the Record Industry
  • Napster and the Emergence of File Sharing
  • Legal Downloading and Streaming
  • Statute of Anne, Development of Copyright Law
  • Current U.S. Law and Six Exclusive Rights
  • Amendments
  • International
  • Courts and Understanding the Law
  • Briefing a Case
  • Assignment 1: Brief Court Case

Lesson 2: Copyrightable Subject Matter

  • Music and Copyright
  • Copyright in Musical Composition and in Sound Recording
  • Distinguishing Between Musical Composition and Sound Recording
  • What Counts as an Infringement?
  • Mechanical Licensing
  • Who Sets the Compulsory Mechanical Royalty Rates?
  • Idea/Expression Dichotomy
  • Idea/Expression Dichotomy Examples
  • Other Intellectual Property Rights
  • Sample Case Law
  • What Is Copyrightable?
  • Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service
  • Nash v. CBS
  • Copyrighting a Groove
  • Assignment 2: Mechanical License

Lesson 3: Copyrightable Subject Matter, Derivative Works

  • Derivative Works
  • L. Batlin & Son v. Snyder
  • Horgan v. MacMillan
  • Computer Software: Apple Computer v. Franklin Computer
  • Lotus v. Borland
  • Pictorial, Graphic, and Sculptural Works, Characters: Mannion v. Coors Brewing Company
  • Anderson v. Stallone
  • Mashups, Sampling
  • Bridgeport Music
  • Assignment 3: List Licenses for Legal Distribution

Lesson 4: Transfer, Works-for-Hire, Duration of Copyright Protection

  • Transfer of Rights
  • Works-for-Hire
  • Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid
  • Duration of Copyright Protection, Joint Works
  • Copyright in Works after 1978
  • Copyright in Works Prior to 1978
  • Copyright Terms
  • Sound Recordings
  • Termination of Transfer
  • Assignment 4: Compute Expiration Day for a Song or Book

Lesson 5: Notice and Registration Requirements, Copying, Infringement

  • Notice
  • Deposit and Registration
  • Registration under the MLC
  • Copies
  • Arnstein v. Porter
  • Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries
  • ETS v. Katzman
  • Led Zeppelin Case
  • Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy
  • First Sale Doctrine
  • Assignment 5: Consider Registration for an AI-Generated Work

Lesson 6: Distribution and Public Performance

  • Public Performance
  • Technology and Public Performance
  • ABC v. Aereo, Inc.
  • Performing Rights Organizations
  • Collecting Internationally
  • Writer's and Publisher's Share
  • Ocasek v. Hegglund
  • Right of Public Display
  • Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act/Sound Exchange
  • Distribution
  • Assignment 6: Brief a Court Case

Lesson 7: Fair Use

  • Fair Use in Copyright Law
  • Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
  • Estate of James Oscar Smith v. Cash Money Records, Inc., et al.
  • Andy Warhol, Transformation, and Fair Use
  • Fair Use with New Technologies
  • Sega v. Accolade
  • UMG Recordings, Inc. v. MP3.com, Inc.
  • Google
  • Assignment 7: Fair Use

Lesson 8: Fair Use, Enforcement/Remedies

  • Time-Shifting: Sony v. Universal City Studios
  • Training AI LLMs and Fair Use
  • Injunctive Relief and Impounding
  • Fox News v. TVEyes
  • Civil Remedies and Statutory Damages
  • Davis v. The Gap
  • Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas-Rasset
  • Criminal Penalties
  • Assignment 8: Brief a Case

Lesson 9: Vicarious Infringement / DMCA

  • Vicarious Infringement: A&M v. Napster
  • MGM v. Grokster
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act/ DMCA Safe Harbor Provision
  • Capitol Records v. Vimeo, Inc.
  • The Value Gap / EU Article 17
  • Takedown Notices
  • Protection Against Circumventions
  • Realnetworks, Inc. v. Streambox, Inc.
  • BMG Rights Mgmt. (US) LLC v. Cox Communication, Inc.
  • Assignment 9: Write a Takedown Notice

Lesson 10: Gaps in Copyright and Royalty Structures

  • DMCA-Covered Radio
  • Copyright Royalty Board
  • Streaming Royalties and Internet Radio
  • Current Royalty Rates
  • Copyright Law Reform
  • Assignment 10: License Agreements

Lesson 11: User-Generated Content and Federal Preemption

  • User-Generated Content Sites and Their Legality
  • Case Study: Who Pays If I Upload to YouTube
  • Creative Commons and Other Movements
  • Federal Preemption of State Law and Sound Recording Protection
  • Toney v. L’Oreal USA, Inc.
  • International / Berne Convention
  • EU-Specific Law and “Making Available”
  • Armstrong v. Virgin Records
  • Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc.
  • Assignment 11: Final Project Assignment

Lesson 12: Gen AI Considerations and Moral Rights

  • Moral Rights
  • International Best Practices
  • Artificial Intelligence and Music
  • Day-to-Day Life of a Copyright/Music Attorney
  • Assignment 12: Artificial Intelligence

Requirements

Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements 

Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
Completion of Music Business 101 or equivalent knowledge and/or experience.

Textbook(s)

Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.

General Course Requirements

Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course. 

Mac Users

  • macOS Monterey 12.0 or later

PC Users

All Users

  • Latest version of Google Chrome
  • Zoom meeting software
  • Webcam
  • Speakers or headphones
  • External or internal microphone
  • Broadband Internet connection

Instructors

Allen Bargfrede
Allen Bargfrede

Author & Instructor

Allen Bargfrede focuses his work on building a better world for creatives. An American lawyer, he leads the music strategy firm Avance Advisors and works actively with a range of music clients, including artists, writers, labels, and publishers. He is also the founder of Creative Wave, a global music think tank, and has co-founded two music technology companies.

Read More

Allen’s past experience includes founding Berklee’s Rethink Music initiative in partnership with Harvard Law School and launching the graduate music business program at Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain. Earlier in his career, he also owned an artist management firm and record label. Read Less

What's Next?

When taken for credit, Copyright Law can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:

Related Certificate Programs

Related Degree Majors

Related Music Career Role

Employers look for skills learned in this course, when hiring for the following music career role:

Entertainment Attorney

Questions?

Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.

 Get Info
Call
Text

Enroll by Feb 23 and Save up to $300 on Select Courses