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SECTION 501. INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT
The bill, unlike the present law, contains a general statement of what constitutes infringement of copyright. Section 501(a) identifies a copyright infringer as someone who “violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 117” of the bill, or who imports copies or phonorecords in violation of section 602. Under the latter section an unauthorized importation of copies of phonorecords acquired abroad, is an infringement of the exclusive right of distribution under certain circumstances.
The principle of the divisibility of copyright ownership, established by section 201(d), carries with it the need in infringement actions to safeguard the rights of all copyright owners and to avoid a multiplicity of suits. Subsection (b) of section 501 enables the owner of a particular right to bring an infringement action in his own name alone, while at the same time insuring to the extent possible that the other owners whose rights may be affected are notified and given a chance to join the action.
The first sentence of subsection (b) empowers the “legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive right” to bring suit for “any infringement of that particular right committed while he is the owner of it.” A “beneficial owner” for this purpose would include, for example, an author who had parted with his legal title to the copyright in exchange for percentage royalties based on sales or license fees.
The second and third sentences of section 501(b), which supplement the provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, give the courts discretion to require the plaintiff to serve notice of his suit on “any person shown, by the records of the Copyright Officer or otherwise, to have or claim an interest in the copyright”; where a person’s interest “is likely to be affected by a decision in the case” a court order requiring service of notice is mandatory. As under the Federal rules, the court has discretion to require joinder of “any person having or claiming an interest in the copyright”; but, if any such person wishes to become a party, the court must permit his intervention.
In addition to cases involving divisibility of ownership in the same version of a work, section 501(b) is intended to permit a court to permit or compel joinder of workers of rights in works upon which a derivative work is based.
For purposes of subsection (b), subsection (c) of Section 501 provides that a television broadcast station holding a copyright or other license to transmit or perform the same version of a work shall be regarded as a legal or beneficial owner if a cable television system makes a secondary transmission which is actionable as an act of infringement under Section 111 if the transmission occurs within the local service area of the television broadcast station.
Vicarious liability for infringing performances
The committee has actively considered and rejected an amendment to this section intended to exempt the proprietors of an establishment, such as a ballroom or night club, from liability for copyright infringement committed by an independent contractor, such as an orchestra leader. A well-established principle of copyright law is that a person who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner is an
