February 28, 2004
A simple question

This regards the controversy over The Grey Album.

I own The Beatles' White Album. I own Jay-Z's Black Album.

Can I legally own a copy DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album?

I don't want to get a letter in the mail from lawyers...

Posted by michael at February 28, 2004 03:38 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Well, this is terra nova for the legal eagles, but that doesn't mean that they won't act like they are acting pursuant to precedent that dates back to the anti-diluvian period. Anyway, whether it is actually 'legal' and whether you will receive a letter from a lawyer acting on behalf of some copyright holder are two separate questions. While getting a C&D letter from a lawyer isn't as common as getting a financial offer from Nigeria, it isn't all that rare so keeping checking your mailbox. There might be something in there one day. To paraphrase Andy Warhol, in the near future everyone will be guilty of copyright infringement.

Posted by: Ernie the Attorney [http://ernieattorney.typepad.com/] on February 28, 2004 06:36 PM

Duplication, distribution, public peformance, and digital performance rights are all restricted by federal copyright law.

Merely possessing (and listening privately) to the album ought to incur no criminal liability.

Just don't play it in public.

Posted by: Mike [http://perpetualbeta.com] on March 1, 2004 02:32 PM

Worried about violating copyrights? Who are you and what have you done with the real Mike?

Posted by: patinhisrightmind [http://blog.patbryant.com] on March 1, 2004 06:01 PM
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