Check out the latest on-demand video CLE from the Legal Tech Institute at the Harris County Law Library. Nationally-recognized innovator, Casey Flaherty, Principal at Procertas, LLC, stopped by to talk about the market pressures and ethical duties that make adopting legal tech a priority for all attorneys and allied professionals. Texas attorneys can earn 1.0 hour CLE and 0.5 ethics.
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2019
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies encourages everyone to take “proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity at home and in the workplace.” For lawyers in Texas, who have an ethical duty to keep up with technology, that means learning about the practical aspects of delivering legal services and protecting client data in a digital environment. If that sounds like a daunting task when you’re already practicing law, earning CLE credit to maintain your law license, and running the business side of a law firm, the Legal Tech Institute at the Harris County Law Library is here to help!
Visit our Learn On-Demand page to find free video CLE, including Practical Cybersecurity for Lawyers. Guest speaker Dustin Sachs, Senior Forensics Cybersecurity Consultant, provides an overview of cybersecurity considerations and practical advice for protecting data in law firms of all sizes. The recording is accredited by the State Bar of Texas, so Texas attorneys can earn 1.0 hour of CLE as their schedule allows from anywhere.
The Law of Impeachment - a digital exhibit from the Harris County Law Library
The legal history of impeachment is on display at the Harris County Law Library and online as a digital exhibit. Learn about the sources of law useful for researching the impeachment process, and historical cases of impeachment under both the U.S. and Texas Constitutions. The exhibit features works from the Law Library’s historical collection, including an original 1868 printing by the U.S. Government Publishing Office of the record of proceedings in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. You can also find a copy of Record of Proceedings of the High Court of Impeachment on the Trial of Hon. James Ferguson, Governor, which has been a part of the Law Library’s collection for over 100 years and chronicles the only case of impeachment against a sitting governor of Texas.
Plan your visit to see “The Law of Impeachment” exhibit at our downtown Houston location or visit our website to view the digital exhibit today!
It's Access to Legal Information Week!
Harris County Commissioners Court recognized July 14-20 as “Access to Legal Information Week” with a July 9 resolution to encourage all to visit the Harris County Law Library to learn about the valuable resources and services available. Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and the Law Library are celebrating “Access to Legal Information Week” with a week’s worth of event to raise awareness about legal research resources available to all at our downtown Houston location. Stop by the Law Library Reference Desk Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm to request a tour and learn about legal information resources available to the people of Harris County. Access to Legal Information Week events will include the following:
Sunday, July 14
Our law librarians kicked off the week in Washington, D.C. at the 112th Annual Conference of the American Association of Law Libraries to receive the inaugural Excellence in Community Engagement Award for our Harvey Recovery Resources webpage.
Monday, July 15
The Law Library will begin offering tours for patrons at 8 a.m. Stop by all week to learn about the resources and services available for legal researchers and self-represented litigants. Plan your visit with driving directions and parking information on our Contact Us page.
Tuesday, July 16
Our law librarians will be recognized at the AALL Annual Meeting with the Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award for our work on the Pro Se Litigant Handbook and Manual para Litigantes Pro Se, which connect Harris County’s self-represented litigants with current, accurate information about a wealth of local legal aid resources. Stop by the Law Library to pick up a copy or visit our Self-Help page to access the digital version.
Wednesday, July 17
Join us Wednesday starting at 8 a.m. to receive a copy of our limited edition Digital Destination Passport. The Law Library has greatly expanded the digital resources available to all legal researchers in Harris County. The Passport takes patrons on a journey through eight new resources available for free at the Law Library and provides an opportunity for public and attorney patrons to learn about all the information available at your fingertips within steps of the courthouses at our downtown Houston location. Visit our Digital Destinations Passport page to learn more.
Thursday, July 18
Join us for a Hands-On Legal Tech Training on Thursday at 2 p.m. to learn how to Find & Format Legal Forms using the free databases available at the Harris County Law Library. Each Thursday, our law librarians offers classes accredited by the State Bar of Texas to all of our patrons for free to increase access to legal resources through our Legal Tech Institute. Visit our Legal Tech Institute Course Calendar to sign up for a free session today!
Friday, July 19
Deputy Director Joe Lawson will visit the 1910 Courthouse to lead an advanced legal research class for interns of the 1st and 14th Texas Courts of Appeals. Each summer interns from the Courts and Harris County Attorney’s Office have the opportunity to sharpen their legal research skills with training sessions from the Harris County Law Library to ensure our newest legal professionals have access to the legal information they need to move our justice system forward in their careers.
Saturday, July 20
The Harris County Law Library is closed on Saturdays, but that doesn’t mean access to legal information stops. Visit our Legal Tech Institute On-Demand Learning page to find videos about legal tech topics and access to legal information. Several videos are accredited by the State Bar of Texas and there is something for everyone.
Bad Blood: Taylor Swift and Artists’ Rights to Sound Recordings
Taylor Swift in 2019.
Earlier this week, Nashville-based record label Big Machine Label Group was purchased by music industry heavyweight Scooter Braun for a reported $300 million. This acquisition includes the master tapes for all of pop megastar Taylor Swift’s six albums released to date. The Swifties, dedicated members of the musician’s loyal international fandom, have taken this particularly hard, as Braun and Swift have been at odds over the years, leading to widespread suspicion that the purchase of the masters may have been motivated in part by personal animus.
What does this purchase mean for Swift, and does she have recourse?
The term master recordings refers to the ultimate, highest quality record of an artist’s studio session. It is the base from which all production and mixing occurs to bring a final version to the masses. “Sound recordings are inevitably derivative works as they necessarily include an audible performance of a literary, musical, or dramatic work.” §8:42 Publication of Works Other Than Sound Recordings, 1 The Law of Copyright. The right to create a derivative work is part of the so-called Bundle of Rights afforded a copyright holder, and therefore in theory the exclusive right to create a derivative work belongs to the author of the underlying work. However, authors can sell or assign rights from their bundle to others, and in the music business it is common for artists to sign their rights to master recordings over to their record labels. This was the case for Swift, who signed her deal with Big Machine Label Group at age 15. Still, because Swift retains the copyright in the underlying work, Braun would be unable, for example, to license the recordings for use in a film without Swift’s permission. These limitations on Braun’s ability to exploit the masters for monetary gain may be of some comfort to Swifties everywhere.
In the two image captures immediately below from the US Copyright Office online registration database, you can see that while Swift and others own the rights to the underlying musical work “Look What You Made Me Do,” Big Machine Label Group LLC owns the right to the “Look What You Made Me Do” sound recording.
Because her contract, as is typical of record deals, apparently did not include any right to first refusal on a deal for her master recordings, nor does it appear to have required the label to allow her to match any offer, analysis by The Hollywood Reporter indicates she has no legal recourse.
Yet, Taylor Swift has to date been about as significant a force on the business side of the music industry as she has been as an artist. It is likely that a result of this highly publicized incident will be a rise in contractual language providing artists with enhanced ability to eventually purchase back their own masters from their labels. As artists have struggled for decades to find ways to regain control of their tapes, this could well prove a pivotal moment in Entertainment Law.
Besides legal rights and the ability to commercially exploit master recordings, the owner of such recordings also must tackle issues of preservation. The recent, shocking New York Times Magazine expose of the almost 200,000 master tapes lost in the 2008 Universal Studios fire explores the repercussions of leaving cultural patrimony in the hands of for-profit institutions that may not be able to ensure preservation.
