The copyright of the background music in an audio book

[Steve Liu]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

In 2013, A media company in South Korea helped us with the production of an audio book, including adding background music. The company is an outsourcing company of a famous broadcasting company in South Korea. It can be said that this company is not bogus but a strong media company.

Some of the background music it provided for our audio book were purchased from other companies. In order not to infringe any copyright of the background music as we always concern, we signed the contract and also a “commitment on using the music”, stating that all the copyright infringement, if any, if it might arise, would be the sole responsibility of that company.

However, this audio book received a copyright infringement notice from Youtube where it was put onto. So I tried to contact that company but no one was available and the company underwent bankrupt and would be at an auction.

Our concerns are:
1. If copyright problems come out and we still cannot reach the company, does the copyright owners have the right to sue us? We didn't mean to infringe the copyright. Moreover, we are also a victim. So, how will the international law deal with this matter?
2. If we still want to use this audio tracks, are there any good methods to solve these problems?
3. We belong to a non-profit organization and we make videos not for commercial use. If we add a disclaimer at the beginning of the videos, can we solve the problems?

Would you please show us some relevant items of law? Or international law ( for it happened in South Korea)

 

[FlyingRon]

We deal only with US law here.

I'll answer the question on You Tube only since they are (mostly) a US company. You Tube is free to remove your content even if it is lot legally infringing. You should have received information when the content was removed (if you were the posting account) that allowed you to submit your declaration that you did have a proper license to use the material posted. Even so, You Tube is not obliged to restore your content to their site.

A bankrupt company still has intellectual property such as copyrights, eventually those rights will transfer to a successor, be sold, or transferred to the creditors.

Just because you have some agreement that says that the people who did your audio production assume the rights for infringement from the production doesn't mean that you are immune to being sued and having your material taken down for infringeing. It just means you might have some recourse against the production company for your successive losses.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

In 2013, A media company in South Korea helped us with the production of an audio book, including adding background music. The company is an outsourcing company of a famous broadcasting company in South Korea. It can be said that this company is not bogus but a strong media company.

Some of the background music it provided for our audio book were purchased from other companies. In order not to infringe any copyright of the background music as we always concern, we signed the contract and also a �commitment on using the music�, stating that all the copyright infringement, if any, if it might arise, would be the sole responsibility of that company.

However, this audio book received a copyright infringement notice from Youtube where it was put onto. So I tried to contact that company but no one was available and the company underwent bankrupt and would be at an auction.

Our concerns are:
1. If copyright problems come out and we still cannot reach the company, does the copyright owners have the right to sue us? We didn't mean to infringe the copyright. Moreover, we are also a victim. So, how will the international law deal with this matter?
2. If we still want to use this audio tracks, are there any good methods to solve these problems?
3. We belong to a non-profit organization and we make videos not for commercial use. If we add a disclaimer at the beginning of the videos, can we solve the problems?

Would you please show us some relevant items of law? Or international law ( for it happened in South Korea)

Contributory infringement is when someone knows or should have known that infringement has occurred and has in some way contributed to it.

The copyright holder can sue not only the South Korea media company that helped you with the production of your audio book, for using copyrighted music without authorization, the copyright holder can also sue you for distributing the audio book that contains infringed material.

If you did not obtain a license to use the background music, whether you were relying on the company in South Korea to obtain necessary licenses or not, you can be held liable for any infringed content on the products you release.

You also cannot contract away your liability for the harm caused intentionally or recklessly or negligently by your acts. Those provisions in a contract are unenforceable. And disclaimers cannot protect you from a law suit. The most a disclaimer can do is mitigate damages in the event of a lawsuit.

I agree with FlyingRon that you may have recourse against the media company if you are sued over the audio book.

In order to use your audio books, you would need to remove from the books the background music that infringes or compensate the copyright holder for using the music without authorization and then hope to obtain a license from the copyright holder to continue with the use.

You can be sued in the US (you are located in New York, right?) or you can be named as a codefendant in a suit filed in South Korea against the media company. In a suit filed in South Korea, the copyright laws of South Korea will apply.

As a final note: The fact that you are a non-profit does not protect you from a copyright infringement suit. It is only one factor that is looked at by a court, and generally only when assessing damages to be awarded the copyright holder.

One case to review on contributory infringement: Fonovisa, Inc. v. Cherry Auction, Inc., 76 F.3d 259 (9th Cir. 1996), https://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/76_F3d_259.htm