Judge Skirts Work-For-Hire Issue In MP3.com Hearing

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff yesterday sidestepped the hot-button legal issue of whether sound recordings are "works made for hire" in denying Universal Music Group's request for a pre-trial summary judgment on the matter in its copyright-infringement suit against MP3.com. In a twist that MP3.com's attorneys called "a switcheroo," UMG's lawyers said at the New York hearing that they had not in fact been asking the court to rule that sound recordings are works made for hire as a matter of law; Rakoff said the point was moot, since he would not have issued a judgment on the question anyway.

Each of the copyrights at issue?as many as 6,700, according to a newly downsized UMG tally?will now be challenged by MP3.com on a disc-by-disc basis. However, MP3.com's attorneys say they intend to re-introduce the works-for-hire issue at trial as a defense against the validity of all the copyrights. MP3.com, found guilty of willful infringement at an earlier trial, must pay UMG $25,000 for each copyright eligible for damages.

Members of the Recording Artists' Coalition sent Rakoff a letter Wednesday night asking permission to file a brief outlining their concerns about a possible works-for-hire ruling before the trial starts Nov. 13.