Usually, when people make something creative – a book, a photograph, a website – the person who made it owns the copyright, and anyone who wants to use that work needs to negotiate the rights to use it. That’s the general rule. But general rules don’t apply all the time, which is why we have lawyers. The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board deals with a special part of copyright law where Congress has said rightsholders don’t actually have a choice over whether their works can be used, but they do need to be compensated. The board has a new chief judge. He’s David Shaw. He talks about this specific part of copyright law with Federal News Network Deputy Editor Jared Serbu.
