Off-World Copyright Protection
How does copyright work in space?, Economist
“The song “Space Oddity” is under copyright protection in most countries, and the rights to it belong to Mr Bowie. But compulsory-licensing rights in many nations mean that any composition that has been released to the public (free or commercially) as an audio recording may be recorded again and sold by others for a statutorily defined fee, although it must be substantively the same music and lyrics as the original. But with the ISS circling the globe, which jurisdiction was Commander Hadfield in when he recorded the song and video?”
– Space Oddity, YouTube (over 14,000,000 views)
Folks:
Since the video was made over time in various locations in the ISS, Hadfield probably covered every jurisdiction.
But since the point has been raised, maybe a discussion of treating space as another copyright jurisdiction is in order.
As with anything in space, enforcement will be an issue. It may be necessary to create lenient ‘rules’ just so there’s an appearance of order. Or maybe copyright will be based the laws of the countries where the ground stations receive the information.
Regardless of copyright, nothing seems to be stopping anybody that wants to see the Hadfield video.
tinker
Bowie and/or the suits that own his catalog would be absolute fools to make this particular video an issue.
I expect the video has boosted Bowie’s catalog sales. I have rediscovered Bowie’s recordings including “Life On Mars” which I think is one of the all-time greatest recordings ever.
The Wild West
I suspect people are overthinking it. Hadfield’s actual recording on the ISS wasn’t a “public performance”. Private performances aren’t bound by copyright. Only the broadcast of the subsequent recording is a copyright issue, and that depends on jurisdiction of the video-site. YouTube claims a US jurisdiction. So the YouTube hosted clip is under US law.
(Likewise, a CD or DVD release would be under the copyright jurisdiction of the nation the CD/DVD is sold in.)
I don’t think David Bowie could have got better promotion than this at any price. I’m guessing that all kinds of people are now trying to figure out how to do the same thing or something similar. Bowie was also a pioneer of releasing music on the internet. Another first for David Bowie.
David Bowie posted this on his Facebook page: “It’s possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created….” Case closed.
How is this any different from someone recording the band on a cruise ship in international waters playing the same tune and then posting it on YouTube? I suspect that this issue is well covered by existing law. I don’t know what that law is though.
The copyright laws applicable would then be the laws of the country under whose flag the ship was sailing. ISS is an international project and, as far as I know, doesn’t have a single country who has legal responsibility for it.
If ISS were exclusively a US or Russian station, then it would be their copyright laws that would be involved. As matters stand, I suspect they will end up having to pay the requisite fees in the jurisdictions of all the countries involved in the ISS. That could prove… costly.