Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch and the Uncertainty of Joint Ownership of Copyright

Adam Yauch, the esoteric American rapper with the seminal group, Beastie Boys, continues to put his band in the copyright spotlight even after his death. Yauch’s will, which left his entire estate (including all copyright interests) to a trust, contains a small but significant hand-written inscription that raises fundamental issues of copyright. Into the last line of Yauch’s will were penned words by Yauch directing that no music or any artistic property created by him was to be used for advertising purposes. But Yauch was only one of three members of the trio, with collaboration between the three authors on the music such that no one contribution is distinct from another. Absent any agreement to the contrary, this makes the Beastie Boys joint authors and co-owners of the copyright in their music – a concept generating different legal presumptions depending where you are domiciled. In the US, it is presumed that co-owners of copyright can independently exercise any of the exclusive rights of a copyright owner. As a result, any co-owner can grant a non-exclusive license for the work without the consent of any other co-owner, although there remains a duty to account to the other co-owners for profits. Unfortunately for the Yauch Estate, this means that if either of the surviving members of the Beastie Boys wishes to license their music for an advertising purpose, intervention by the Yauch Estate may not carry legal weight – Yauch could only transfer rights by will which he had, and these did not include a ‘veto’. In the UK, by contrast, it is presumed that co-ownership of copyright takes the form of equal but undivided interests in the whole copyright. This creates a relationship among co-owners requiring consent of the others before any single co-owner can exercise an exclusive right, such as the granting of a license. In Canada, the Copyright Act is silent on the forms of shared ownership and the case law is not universally clear about the result that would obtain. Rather than accept the uncertain legal terrain when a work of joint authorship arises, a prudent owner in Canada should seek the certainty of an agreement which will set out explicitly all the parties’ respective rights. Summary by: John Lucas