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Analysis Of Minimis, Inc.

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Background
Minimis, Inc. (“Company”) is a digital music creation company with its headquarters in St. Louis, MO, USA. It creates musical arrangements “in the sound of” famous, copyrighted musical works. The Company creates new musical arrangements by leveraging an advanced software suite named “De Minimizer” (“Software”) that allows a user to select a certain sound, genre or elements of existing songs and create a “in the sound of” derivative version of the original recording.
These “in the sound of” derivatives are then licensed to end-users for any creative execution (personal video production, commercial video production, advertisements, documentaries, personal use, etc…). The Company primarily serves the creative industry, but also …show more content…

How it Works Fig. 1 After the user establishes his or her desired output sound, the Software produces an output track based on the user’s request. The client then has the opportunity to purchase the track with a license that best suits his or her needs. These licenses include, but are not limited to, public performance, single-use and full transfer of rights to end-user. One of the key selling points of the Company’s service is the fact that it will insure and indemnify the end-user from any future copyright claims as long as the new recording is used appropriately under the Company’s Terms & Conditions.
Issues Identified This memo will provide perspective and a position on the client’s current operation and its potential liability to existing copyright holders. It will identify potential risks as it pertains to: copyright infringement under U.S.C. § 101 et al, the elements that the Company is particularly at risk under, including (but not limited to): access, substantial similarity (with a jurisdiction view on intrinsic vs. extrinsic similarity). It will also outline the practical defenses the Company will be able to raise under the fair use doctrine and de minimis standards. Depending on the end user and changes to the business model, the Company may be able to minimize exposure to copyright claims or develop tracks that are so substantially dissimilar that they can be seen as

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