Washington Code 19.25.030 – Use of recording of live performance without consent of owner unlawful — Fine and penalty
Current as of: 2023 | Check for updates
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(1) A person commits an offense if the person:
Attorney's Note
Under the Washington Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| class B felony | up to 10 years | up to $20,000 |
| class C felony | up to 5 years | up to $10,000 |
| gross misdemeanor | up to 364 days | up to $5,000 |
Terms Used In Washington Code 19.25.030
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Fixed: means embodied in a recording or other tangible medium of expression, by or under the authority of the author, so that the matter embodied is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. See Washington Code 19.25.010
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Live performance: means a recitation, rendering, or playing of a series of images; musical, spoken or other sounds; or combination of images and sounds. See Washington Code 19.25.010
- Owner: means a person who owns the sounds fixed in a master phonograph record, master disc, master tape, master film, or other recording on which sound is or can be recorded and from which the transferred recorded sounds are directly or indirectly derived. See Washington Code 19.25.010
- person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
- Recording: means a tangible medium on which sounds, images, or both are recorded or otherwise stored, including an original phonograph record, disc, tape, audio or video cassette, wire, film, or other medium now existing or developed later on which sounds, images, or both are or can be recorded or otherwise stored or a copy or reproduction that duplicates in whole or in part the original. See Washington Code 19.25.010
(a) For commercial advantage or private financial gain advertises, offers for sale, sells, rents, transports, causes the sale, resale, rental, or transportation of or possesses for one or more of these purposes a recording of a live performance with the knowledge that the live performance has been recorded or fixed without the consent of the owner; or
(b) With the intent to sell for commercial advantage or private financial gain records or fixes or causes to be recorded or fixed on a recording a live performance with the knowledge that the live performance has been recorded or fixed without the consent of the owner.
(2)(a) An offense under this section is a class B felony punishable by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars, imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, if:
(i) The offense involves at least one thousand unauthorized recordings embodying sound or at least one hundred unauthorized audiovisual recordings during a one hundred eighty-day period; or
(ii) The defendant has been previously convicted under this section.
(b) An offense under this section is a class C felony punishable by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars, imprisonment for not more than five years, or both, if the offense involves more than one hundred but less than one thousand unauthorized recordings embodying sound or more than ten but less than one hundred unauthorized audiovisual recordings during a one hundred eighty-day period.
(c) Any other offense under this section is a gross misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars, imprisonment for up to three hundred sixty-four days, or both.
(3) In the absence of a written agreement or law to the contrary, the performer or performers of a live performance are presumed to own the rights to record or fix those sounds.
(4) For the purposes of this section, a person who is authorized to maintain custody and control over business records that reflect whether or not the owner of the live performance consented to having the live performance recorded or fixed is a competent witness in a proceeding regarding the issue of consent.
(5) This section does not affect the rights and remedies of a party in private litigation.
NOTES:
Findings—Intent—2011 c 96: See note following RCW 9A.20.021.
Intent—Effective date—2003 c 53: See notes following RCW 2.48.180.