Evolving rights in dance materials

Evolving Rights Issuesin Dance Materials

Arlene YuPratt M-LEAD Symposium

March 17, 2011

I AM NOT A

LAWYER

Nothing I say here should be taken as legal advice, or as a

legal opinion.

Copyright basics

Specific types of works

Fixed in a tangible medium

No artistic quality necessary

Minimum creativity

Rights under copyright

Duplicate and distribute

Perform or display

Make derivatives

Length of copyright

For hire

Creation date

Published

Publication date

Notice and registration

– Peter Hirtlehttp://goo.gl/qpAHt

Copyright owner of the Electric Slide?

“I don't want future generations having to learn it wrong and then

relearn it . . . because of certain sites and [people] that have been

teaching it incorrectly and without my permission. That's the reason I [copyrighted] it in the first place.”

– Ric Silver

A more recent dance routine

Homage

Parody

Copyright infringement?

Choreography wasn’t copyrightable until the

1976 Copyright Act went into effect

First protected work

Copyrighted choreographers(though they didn’t all personally own the copyright)

“Fixing” choreography

“two . . . company members had learned the choreography from a dancer who sets OhadNaharin’s work, and knew the impulses for

certain actions. When these dancers performed with the rest of the cast they looked so different from the others on stage that [she]

needed to change [her] idea.”

“choreography emphasizes purpose, idiosyncrasies and action. . . . Naharin’s

choreography — dances which are visually pleasing, kinetically driven – is motored by

ideas as well as movements.”

– Kate Mattingly, stealthisdance.com

Beyonce's Sticky Fingers Steal

From "Fosse Hands" Again

Beyonce GraveRobs Bob Fosse

Beyonce, Still Up To Her Same Old Sham Antics

Beyonce’s New Video Rips

Off Bob Fosse

In terms of copyright,what constitutes choreography?

What is copyrighted?

“I don't want future generations having to learn it wrong and then

relearn it . . . because of certain sites . . . that have been teaching it

incorrectly. . . . That's the reason I [copyrighted] it in the first place.”

= moral rights

What gets pursued doesn’t always make sense

oooh.oooh on flickr.com

Contracts, not copyrightin the dance community

Access issuesat the New York Public Library

https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b12161333~S99

https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b16004327~S99

https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b15594049~S99

oooh.oooh on flickr.com