Guitar Regulatory Frameworks & Compliance 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under US copyright law, how long does copyright protection last for a song written by a living individual author today?
- Life of the author plus 70 years (Correct answer)
- 28 years with one renewal option
- 95 years from publication date
- 75 years from the date of creation
Correct answer: Life of the author plus 70 years
For works created after 1978, US copyright lasts the life of the author plus 70 years.
Question 2: Which federal agency in the US handles the registration of trademarks for guitar brand names and logos?
- US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (Correct answer)
- US Copyright Office
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- Library of Congress
Correct answer: US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
The USPTO is responsible for registering trademarks, including brand names and logos used by guitar manufacturers.
Question 3: A guitar manufacturer wants to import rosewood fretboards into the US. Which treaty and law primarily governs whether this is legal?
- CITES and the Lacey Act (Correct answer)
- NAFTA and EPA regulations
- Geneva Convention and Clean Air Act
- WTO agreements and Sherman Antitrust Act
Correct answer: CITES and the Lacey Act
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and the US Lacey Act together regulate the import of protected tonewoods like rosewood.
Question 4: What is a 'mechanical license' in the context of recording a guitar cover song?
- Permission to reproduce and distribute a copyrighted musical composition in a sound recording (Correct answer)
- A license to use mechanical guitar-tuning equipment in recordings
- Permission from a studio to use their mechanical instruments
- A government permit to manufacture guitar parts using CNC machinery
Correct answer: Permission to reproduce and distribute a copyrighted musical composition in a sound recording
A mechanical license grants the right to reproduce and distribute a copyrighted song in your own recorded version.
Question 5: Which organization in the US is the primary performing rights organization (PRO) that collects royalties for public performances of guitar-based music on radio?
- ASCAP (Correct answer)
- BMI only collects for film
- SAG-AFTRA
- Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Correct answer: ASCAP
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is one of the main US PROs licensing public performance rights for music.
Question 6: A guitar teacher records video lessons and posts them to YouTube using popular songs as examples. What legal risk do they face?
- Copyright infringement for reproducing and publicly displaying the copyrighted compositions (Correct answer)
- Patent infringement on the song structure
- Trademark dilution of the artist's brand
- Violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor provision
Correct answer: Copyright infringement for reproducing and publicly displaying the copyrighted compositions
Reproducing copyrighted songs in publicly posted videos without a license constitutes copyright infringement regardless of educational intent.
Question 7: Under the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), a guitarist hired as a session musician for a recording label would typically be classified as what?
- An independent contractor, exempt from minimum wage requirements if properly classified (Correct answer)
- A salaried employee with full benefits required
- A part-time employee subject to overtime pay only
- A union employee covered exclusively by collective bargaining
Correct answer: An independent contractor, exempt from minimum wage requirements if properly classified
Most session musicians are classified as independent contractors, meaning standard FLSA minimum wage protections generally do not apply.
Guitar Regulatory Frameworks & Compliance 2
Under US copyright law, how long does copyright protection last for a song written by a living individual author today?