Creative Equity: A Practical Approach to the Actor’s Copyright (downloadable pdf) by Sarah Howes for the Mitchell Hamline Law Review. An exploration of the current legal battles fought and not fought by Actor’s Equity Association and non-union actors, and the state of copyrights and royalties for new works.

Preview:

Table of Contents:

1. INTRODUCTION
2. NON-UNION ACTORS ARE FIGHTING THE BATTLE IN COURT
   1. AEA’s Current Response to Intellectual Property Is Minimal
   2. State Publicity Rights May Not Be an Option with Copyrighted Works
   3. Actors Granted Authorship over the Characters they Perform
   4. Bad Facts Managed to Make Unexpected Worse Law
3.  IMPROVING THE LIFE OF THE COMMON STAGE ACTOR
4. THE POTENTIAL OF ROYALTIES
   1. Very Few New Works Make Any Money
   2. New Technologies Open the Door to More Revenue
5. THE ACTOR’S COPYRIGHT IS SIMPLE
   1. Fixation Is Old News with the Advent of Recording Equipment
   2. The Framers Were Not Fully Supportive of a Producer’s Monopoly
   3. Joint Authorship Is Difficult to Prove
   4. Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances Treaty and Required Action by the Senate
6. PLACE THE ACTOR’S PERFORMANCE INTO EXISTING SUBJECT MATTERS
7. CONCLUSION