Revising Dreams by McGee Mathews

Author:McGee Mathews [Mathews, McGee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Heather carried a hot cup of coffee to her boss’s office on Monday morning. She tapped on the door, and Beverly waved her in. “Hi, I have a personal favor. My friend is in a band, and they’re having a dispute. I’d like to represent the majority members.”

Beverly looked over her reading glasses. “Is this a litigation case?”

“No.”

“Then what do you need from me?”

Heather set the coffee near Beverly. “I’d like to draft a memorandum and run it by you for your opinion.”

“Do it.”

“It’s just important to me that I get this right, and since it’s personal, I didn’t want to be too focused and miss the forest for the trees.”

Bev nodded. “A band, interesting. Entertainment law, it’s a new area for me, but I’ll try. What’s the issue?”

Heather perched on the edge of the chair and put her hands on her lap. “It seems that the women discussed songwriting credit, copyrights, and even property ownership. They neglected to discuss the name of the band. One of the original members left and is not pursuing the name in any form. The current group is shifting, and they’re fighting over the name.”

“Shifting?”

“One of the original members transferred the name to a manager without permission to represent the entire group. The others want to force her out and keep the name.”

Bev said, “If it’s not by written agreement or previous understanding, the band name customarily stays with the band. If the single former member uses the name, you’ll have to determine who’s in good standing to stake a claim of injury or damages from the loss of the name.”

Heather said, “Right. And then it can get really weird. Fleetwood Mac doesn’t have anyone by either name in the group anymore. Where would you start?”

Beverly rocked back in her chair, and Heather could almost hear the gears whirling in her mind. “I’d start with federal copyright law and case law intellectual property rights. However, that’s assuming the unauthorized user knew of the other band and tried to profit from using their popularity.”

Heather slid over the CD and some fliers.

Beverly studied the CD. “If they can prove that certain band members are recognized by the general public as part of the group, it can signal ownership interest.”

“It sucks that they were just starting to get a strong following and some airplay on the radio. Small stations but still.”

“Is it really worth the fight? I mean, they aren’t exactly big time.”

“They seem to think it is. I’m concerned about the manager having deep pockets to fight this.”

“If I was that person, I’d dump them all and find a new band. There are many talented people, and it’s not worth the trouble.”

Heather collected the papers. “What you’re saying is that if they push this, they’d lose the contract.”

“Losing a bad contract is not a loss at all.” Bev touched the CD. “Can I listen to this?”

“Of course.”

◆◆◆

Two weeks after the festival, it was a quiet summer evening in Diamond Lake. The heat was dissipating as

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