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Work for hire
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==== Sound recording debate ==== [[File:"Drive" by The Cars US vinyl A-side.png|thumb|right|The passage of an amendment classifying [[sound recording]]s as subject matter eligible to be works made for hire in 1999 sparked a debate over artists' rights in their recorded music.]] Although copyright protection for [[sound recording]]s was being contemplated contemporaneously with the mid-1960's debate over works made for hire, they were never proposed or considered for inclusion as a category in the specially ordered or commissioned work made for hire provision. Former Register of Copyrights [[Marybeth Peters]] speculated that "record companies did not seek to include sound recordings" among these categories because they were typically produced in recording studios where record companies exercised considerable control over the production process. This allowed record companies to assert that featured artists were "employees" creating the sound recordings in the course of an employment relationship, satisfying the first prong of the 1976 work-for-hire definition.<ref name="peters-2000-sr"/> In November 1999, a work for hire–related amendment was inserted into the [[Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000|Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999]], adding sound recordings to the list of categories that could qualify as specially commissioned works made for hire.<ref name="peters-2000-sr"/><ref name="shva-1999">{{cite USGov|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040225105114/http://bernie.house.gov/sat/shva_report.asp |url=http://bernie.house.gov/sat/shva_report.asp|title=Conference Report on H.R. 3194, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000|agency=United States House of Representatives|archive-date=February 25, 2004 |access-date=May 22, 2025 |quote=(d) Work Made for Hire: Section 101 of title 17, United States Code, is amended in the definition relating to work for hire in paragraph (2) by inserting 'as a sound recording,' after 'audiovisual work'.}}</ref> This resulted in backlash from [[recording artist]]s, who voiced concern that the amendment would strip them of their [[#Termination of copyright transfers|termination rights]] in sound recordings transferred to record labels.<ref name="wired">{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/2000/08/rule-reversal-blame-it-on-riaa/|title=Rule Reversal: Blame It on RIAA |date=August 10, 2000 |website=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |last=King |first=Brad |access-date=May 22, 2025}}</ref> Record companies argued that it was a technical amendment that merely clarified how existing law applied to industry practice, since the majority of sound recordings would have already qualified as contributions to collective works ([[album]]s). However, in a 2000 testimony before the [[House Judiciary Committee]], Peters speculated that the amendment might "prove to be anything but technical" if the music industry shifted to newer distribution models in which individual tracks could be unbundled from albums and [[Music download|downloaded separately]].<ref name="peters-2000-sr"/> In August 2000, the [[Recording Industry Association of America]], representing record labels, and the [[Recording Artists' Coalition]] and other groups representing recording artists jointly agreed to recommend the repeal and retroactive cancellation of the work-for-hire amendment.<ref name="wired"/> Congress repealed the amendment via the Work Made for Hire and Copyright Corrections Act of 2000, which also stipulated that the amendment should be treated as if it never happened.<ref name="hr5107-2000">{{cite USGov|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/house-bill/5107/text |title=H.R.5107 - Work Made for Hire and Copyright Corrections Act of 2000 |date=October 27, 2000 |agency=106th United States Congress |access-date=May 22, 2025}}</ref>
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