Documentary Makers Liable For Copyright Infringement of The Beatles’ Music

In a decision from the English High Court of Justice (the Court), Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and Sony/ATV Music Publishing (UK) Limited (collectively, SATV) succeeded in their claims for infringement of copyright in eight songs performed by the Beatles during their first US concert in Washington, DC.

The defendants in the case, WPMC Limited and Iambic Media Limited, set out to make a documentary about the Washington concert and the ensuing “Beatlemania” that swept the US in the 1960s.  In the documentary, the defendants included the entirety of a video recording of the concert in separate sequences.

The Court considered three issues:

1. whether a collateral contract to grant a synchronisation licence was concluded during negotiations;
2. whether SATV was estopped from denying that they granted a synchronisation licence; and
3. whether the exploitation of the documentary in the U.S. amounted to “fair use” according to U.S. copyright law.

Relying particularly on the fact that email correspondence between the parties were headed “SUBJECT TO SIGNED CONTRACT”, the Court concluded that there was no collateral contract between the parties, and that SATV was not estopped from denying a licence.

Finally, the Court held that the documentary was commercial in nature and that the use of the entire original concert recording exceeded what was reasonable for the documentary’s transformative purpose.  Consequently, the Court held that the documentary did not amount to fair use of the copyrighted works.