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. §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 §504(c), which states that the copyright owner may elect to recover statutory damages for any one work where an infringer is individually liable or for which any two or more infringers are liable jointly and severally; all parts of a compilation or derivative work constitute one work. The district court found RTV had infringed the plaintiffs’ 13 copyrights but ruled that the plaintiffs were entitled to only seven statutory damages awards. The court interpreted §504(c)(1) to provide one statutory damage award for each CD that contained one or more infringing songs. Thus, even though RTV infringed 13 copyrights by copying 13 songs on seven CDs, WBB was entitled to only seven statutory damages awards.
The Second Circuit reversed. Relying on Twin Peaks Prods. v. Publications Int’l, Ltd., the Second Circuit concluded that since the defendants infringed 13 copyrights when they copied 13 songs, the plaintiffs were entitled to 13 statutory awards—not seven. The court found no evidence that the seven CDs, some of which contained more than one of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted songs, were each a compilation that constituted one single work for statutory damages purposes.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
