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Article: Individual Copyrighted Works in an Unauthorized Compilation Warrant Separate Statutory Damages Awards.(WB Music v. RTV Communications Group)(Twin Peaks Products v. Publications International Ltd.)
- Article from:
- Mondaq Business Briefing
- Article date:
- June 12, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Mondaq Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a compilation that infringed copyrights in its constituent parts is not considered "one work" for purposes of 17 U.S.C. s.504(c). Rather, each constituent part that infringes upon a copyright is subject to a separate statutory damages award. WB Music v. RTV Communications Group, Case No 04-3890, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 9889 (2d Cir. Apr. 19, 2006) (Walker, C.J.).
WB Music, a group of music publishers, sued RTV for making and distributing copies of seven CDs containing songs that infringed 13 of its copyrights. WWB elected to seek statutory damages under s.504(c), which states that the copyright owner may ...