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<b>Decision of Note:</b> Record-Rent Ban Does't Apply to Literary Works
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided, in a case of first impression, that the federal ban on renting or lending sound recordings doesn't apply to audiobooks. Brilliance Audio Inc. v. Haights Cross Communications Inc., 05-1209.
Brilliance Audio filed suit over Haights' unauthorized repackaging and relabeling of Brilliance-Audio retail audiobooks as Brilliance library editions for rental, lease and lending. The district court dismissed the plaintiff's claims.
Under the copyright first-sale doctrine, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 109(a), the owner of a copy of a work generally may pass it on in any manner. But the Record Rental Amendment of 1984, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 109(b)(1)(A), states:
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), unless authorized by the owners of a copyright in the sound recording[,] … and ' in the musical works embodied therein, [ ] the owner of a particular phonorecord ' may [not], for the purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage, dispose of, or authorize the disposal of, the possession of that phonorecord ' by rental, lease, or lending, or by any other act or practice in the nature of rental, lease, or lending.'
Affirming the district court in part, the Sixth Circuit noted: '[T]he combination of the legislative history, the context in which the statute was passed, and the policy rationales behind both Sec. 109 and copyright law in general provide strong evidence that Congress intended to exclude only sound recordings of musical works from the first sale doctrine ' At the time Congress adopted the exception in 1984, the exclusive focus of the testimony and the legislators was on protecting the music industry.'
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