CBS must face revived lawsuit in U.S. over pre-1972 recordings

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday revived a lawsuit accusing CBS Corp of copyright infringement for playing digitally remastered songs recorded before 1972 by Al Green, the Everly Brothers, Jackie Wilson and others on its radio stations and online.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said a lower court judge acted too quickly in saying federal copyright law preempted California state law claims by the plaintiffs, which owned the original analogue recordings.

"A digitally remastered sound recording made as a copy of the original analogue sound recording will rarely exhibit the necessary originality to qualify for independent copyright protection," Circuit Judge Richard Linn wrote for a 3-0 panel.

The decision is a victory for owners of older songs, who drew support from the Recording Industry Association of America trade group, and have for many years battled broadcasters in court over royalties.

Some owners have found success in arguing that state laws forbade playing their songs without permission. Recordings before Feb. 15, 1972 are not covered by federal copyright law.

CBS and its outside lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plaintiffs ABS Entertainment Inc, Barnaby Records Inc, Brunswick Record Corp and Malaco Inc sued CBS over its playing of songs they had remastered from their original analogue format.

Such remasterings can change songs' original timbre, sound balance and loudness, but otherwise leave them unedited.

In May 2016, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in Los Angeles said CBS, which according to court papers does not use analogue recordings, shouldn't pay because the remastered recordings were authorized "derivative works" governed only by federal copyright law.

But Linn, who normally sits on the Federal Circuit appeals court in Washington, D.C., said aural changes resulting from digitally remastering analogue recordings generally do not "exhibit the minimum level of originality to be copyrightable."

Linn also accepted the plaintiffs' argument that their state law copyrights were "distinct" from whatever rights were inherent in the remasterings.

Accepting CBS' counterarguments would leave such owners "uncompensated and without control of distribution of their creative product," Linn wrote.

The appeals court returned the case to Anderson for further proceedings, including to review the plaintiffs' class action claims.

Robert Allen, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a statement said the decision "completely vindicates our clients."

The case is ABS Entertainment Inc et al v CBS Corp et al, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 16-55917.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Susan Thomas)