Judge Dismisses Case of Bootleg Recordings

A U.S. law criminalizing the sale of bootleg recordings of live performances is illegal because it doesn’t limit the life of a copyright, a judge ruled in the case of a Manhattan man indicted on charges of selling concert tapes.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer struck down the law, which carries a five-year prison term. U.S. copyright law limits protection of a work to the life of the author plus 70 years, Baer said. The anti-bootlegging statute runs afoul of that legal standard because it “grants seemingly perpetual protection to live musical performances,” the judge said.

Baer’s ruling applies only in the case involving Jean Martignon, though it may influence other judges.