A federal appeals court threw out a controversial court decision that remastering an old sound recording results in a brand new work under U.S. copyright law.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Aug. 20 reversed a summary judgment ruling favoring CBS Corp., siding instead with ABS Entertainment Inc. in a case that challenged what law applies to older records.
ABS Entertainment and other plaintiffs that own the rights in pre-1972 recordings, also known as owners of the “master recordings,” sought compensation under California law from CBS, which operates both traditional and digital broadcast stations. They argued that ...