Hi, I have a question related to the US intellectual property law. The answer to me seems to be obvious, but this is the US legal system we're talking about. So, does one hold intellectual property rights over a nature recording? Think waves, oceans, birds. The sounds have not been altered or mixed in any way, it's just simple recording of nature, and there is no human involvement beyond recording it. Thanks
they would hold the right to "that" piece however if someone was to record the same birds they would not need to obtain the rights to use their own recording.
vslayer is right. In principle, copyright does not protect ideas. It protects forms of expression. A particular recording of a bird is a form of expression of that "work". Effort has gone into making the recording, so the copyright holder can take action against people who copy that particular recording without permission. However, somebody else can make their own recording of the same bird and it will not infringe the copyright. There are some grey areas in copyright law. For example, making small changes to a work can still breach copyright. If I write a song that sounds very similar to the Beatles' "Yesterday", I'd have the onus of proof to show that I did NOT copy the original. If I could not show that, I would be liable for breach of copyright. This can happen even where the copying is unconscious.
