Copyright Protection and Music Licensing 

To successfully launch any business or brand promotion using music, video, graphics, or digital content requires an understanding of copyright law. 

WBK attorneys have been intimately involved in the Washington world of copyright law, explaining copyright issues to Congress, testifying in Copyright Office studies, and participating in Copyright Royalty Board proceedings.  Our expertise in music licensing has helped clients develop business plans, resolve royalty disputes, and participate in rate setting proceedings to further their strategic visions. 

WBK can help on many other matters, deciphering the byzantine language of the copyright laws to make them understandable for businesses – especially media businesses.  Our attorneys are looked to regularly by clients, industry associations, and the press for insights as to the meaning of new laws and copyright cases – and stand ready to provide that expertise to your business.  

We often advise clients on questions of proper use of copyrighted works that require assessment under a fair use analysis.  Our attorneys also advise on protections under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and its liability protections for parties hosting online content posted by third parties, and we assist clients with DMCA takedown notice procedures.   

We also can help prepare copyright registration applications, as registration is critical to protecting content and asserting rights granted by the copyright laws.  We can conduct copyright searches and have considerable expertise in the rigid rules for recordation of ownership transfers at the U.S. Copyright office for our client’s transactional activity. 

Our team is always looking to the future.  We are focused on the unsettled issues surrounding artificial intelligence, and how AI will be treated in the copyright world, both in terms of protecting existing rights and the potential for substantial infringement claims, and in developing new services using AI technologies.  We are carefully monitoring the debates over reforms in music licensing and in the redefinition of the statutory royalties governing the retransmission of video programming by new and existing platforms.  Finally, we are watching the many other ways that the digital revolution may affect the already complex copyright laws so that we can help your business achieve new heights of success.