No Paper, No Standing: Kanye West, Copyright Transfers, and the Writing Requirement

What happens when artists agree to transfer rights to a musical composition but never put that transfer in writing? In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin partners Scott Hervey and Jessica R. Corpuz break down a federal court decision arising from a copyright dispute tied to Ye’s Donda album. The case turned on a simple but unforgiving rule of copyright law: without a written assignment, you do not own the copyright and you cannot enforce it. In this episode, they cover: Why Section 204(a) of the Copyright Act requires copyright transfers to be in writing The legal difference between composition copyrights and sound recording copyrights How the lack of a written assignment wiped out most of the plaintiff’s infringement claims Tune in for a clear reminder that in copyright law, if it is not in writing, it may as well not exist.