While everybody’s eyes may have been on supermodel Gisele Bundchen at the Rio 2016 Olympics opening ceremony on August 5, what they were listening to happened to be the one of the most popular songs in history. “The Girl From Ipanema,” written in Rio de Janeiro by Antonio Carlos Jobim, is rumored to be about a Rio native Jobim was particularly infatuated with in the summer of 1962, when he wrote this incredibly successful song. Most people in the U.S. know the English version of the song, but does anyone actually know who owns the copyright for this translation?
The Girl From Ipanema | Who Owns the Copyrights?
IP translation is common – works protected by some form of intellectual property, from music to details for a new product, are often translated for people all over the world. However, legal issues can arise with the translation of copyrighted work, as it can be unclear who owns the rights to the translated version. Translation services are considered derivative works, which are new products that incorporate aspects of the original copyrighted work. Due to the fact that translation requires a considerable amount of effort and skill, they can actually be copyrighted as an original work separate from the source. Before pursuing a translation of copyrighted work, it is crucial to be granted permission by the copyright owner, which means one must know who the actual owner is.
“The Girl from Ipanema”
This is the key sticking point in the recent case filed by Jobim’s family regarding “The Girl From Ipanema” Portuguese translation: Universal Studios, which assigned copyrights to Normal Gibel, the man responsible for the English lyric translation, after Jobim’s death, but they may not have had the authority to do so. The only person owning these rights is the original writer Jobim. Therefore, only Jobim would be able to grant the copyrights to Gibel. Since that never happened, the family is suing for copyrights back as well as damages from receiving less than their “full allocable share” of royalties from the song.
The Girl From Ipanema | The Owner of the Lyrics Is…
Copyright laws are not universal. In the United States copyrights are automatic for tangible original works. That means something like original choreography would be automatically copyrighted if it were recorded or annotated, but without a physical record of it the copyright would not attach to the choreographed dance. For extra protection the U.S. Copyright Office also allows people to register for a copyright, which means there will be a public record of the copyright which can aid in future legal battles that may ensue. Jobim registered the original Portuguese version of his song with the U.S. Copyright Office in 1963, and so long as he never relinquished his copyrights to Universal Studios his family has a good case.
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