I think we would need to know the particulars of THIS Stevie Wonder recording. I know that for USEF and FEI competition, any music published by the “major labels” is OK to use. But we don’t know which Stevie Wonder recording they are talking about in particular - if is isn’t from a the regular published label source, - but a private recording, or something composed specifically for Patrick, or a recording that was only released by some other publisher, etc, then it wouldn’t fall under the same rules. That might be the issue.
[QUOTE=Anonymoose;8800561]
“Intellectual property” was the term I was trying to think of the other day. It’s numinous, so different from right to a material property. People are supposed to get permission to include copyrighted music in sales videos too but who oversees that? ASCAP doesn’t seem concerned.
We need Guilherme, I think. Isn’t he a lawyer?[/QUOTE]
I’m actually a retired lawyer. 
And I’ve had only one or two brushes with Intellectual Property Law and they convinced me that it was not an area I was interested in. The short answer is “I don’t know” if use in the Olympics of a copyrighted song would “fair use” or not. My guess would be “no” because the Olympics are a commercial venture and they mean a LOT of money to a lot of people and none of them are Stevie Wonder or the holder of his copyright.
Yes, the holder should have responded in a timely manner. And maybe the rider should have “pinged” the holder earlier to generate a response. Or maybe gotten permission confirmed before they trained to it.
But, as I say, I’m not an expert.
G.
[QUOTE=danceronice;8801077]
Televised clearance is different than just playing it at a competition.
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/licensingfaq.aspx#general
The Stevie Wonder cut is likely under ASCAP rules and that means NBC in particular would be in a lot of trouble if they broadcast it without proper clearance. And yes, you do have to protect your copyright-naming a horse “Koda Chrome” is not infringing on the copyright, playing the song in public every time he raced without paying for it would be (copyright does not protect names, that’s trademark and a very separate thing, but it protects entire works and if not defended vigorously can result in it being lost and work becoming public domain. That is why, no matter what people think about it seeming mean, Disney will go after illegal use of its characters by daycare, UFS will pursue unauthorized use of Snoopy, a lot of Youtube videos talking about Star Wars will use ersatz music that isn’t Williams. Failure to stop infringement can mean you lose the rights to your own creation.)[/QUOTE]
Other horse-related instances of protecting copyrights (although not music related):
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A stallion owner here in the U.S. had an imported warmblood stallion named Budweiser. She was threatened with lawsuit by Anheuser-Busch if she didn’t change the horse’s name. She had to add a disclaimer to all her ads to the effect that the horse was not “endorsed by Anheuser-Busch, nor was there any connection to Budweiser beer or Anheuser-Busch”. She ended up selling the horse to Australia, partly because she had the opportunity to do so, and partly to keep Anheuser-Busch attorneys from hounding her.
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Back in the early 90’s, International Sport Horse Registry (a corporation owned and run by two German men) trademarked the Oldenburg brand here in the U.S., in the name of its “Oldenburg North America” division. The Oldenburg Verband was therefore not allowed to use it in the U.S., even though the Verband originated the mark several hundreds years ago, and is recognized the world over as its rightful holder. There were several ugly and expensive lawsuits between the two organizations over the issue, but the American judges sided with the American corporation (ISR), and the Verband lost its right to use its mark here in the U.S. ISR ruthlessly protects the trademark, and some year back, threatened to sue the Verband for selling horses into America that are branded with the O and Crown, and even intimated it might sue the buyers/owners of those horses. (The principals of ISR have since realized that the enormous cost of such lawsuits would seriously deplete the corporation’s funds, so they have wisely backed off on the more recent threats.)
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A friend had a stallion named Maserati. She was advised by her attorney to consider changing the horse’s name before advertising him for stud, to avoid any chance of being accused of trademark violation.
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Another friend named her foal “Glock”. She was advised by registry officials to change its name at registration time, due to concerns about trademark violation.
And thanks everyone for your comments!
[QUOTE=DownYonder;8799301]
Anyone know what this is about? Was it a copyright issue?
Quote from Eurodressage:
Patrik Kittel SWE: “I only heard a couple of days ago that I couldn’t use my Stevie Wonder music. We asked a long time ago about using it for the Olympic Games and we only heard back at the very last minute so this music is an old one and Deja isn’t used to it and I think she felt lost in it, and I did too! I’m happy overall, this is an amazing horse, she needs more experience competing over three days but she’s going to be great!”[/QUOTE]
It is a pity that Patrick and his people didn’t consider this when they started practicing to a copyrighted song, especially if they were intending/hoping to use it in performance. It is too bad his attorney didn’t give him a heads-up about this. They say “ignorance is no excuse,” but it is too bad that no one on his staff/in his retinue had a clue. That is why some Olympians have agents and PR people.
[QUOTE=Anonymoose;8802783]
It is a pity that Patrick and his people didn’t consider this when they started practicing to a copyrighted song, especially if they were intending/hoping to use it in performance. It is too bad his attorney didn’t give him a heads-up about this. They say “ignorance is no excuse,” but it is too bad that no one on his staff/in his retinue had a clue. That is why some Olympians have agents and PR people.[/QUOTE]
Yep, failing to ensure that he could actually use the track in mind in the first place and then failing to change the track to a different one if he had not heard back in a timely manner is on him/his team. Poor planning on his/his teams part really.
