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40 Colum. J.L. & Arts 275 (2016-2017)
Who Owns Our Ancestors' Voices: Tribal Claims to Pre-1972 Sound Recordings

handle is hein.journals/cjla40 and id is 283 raw text is: Who Owns Our Ancestors' Voices? Tribal Claims to Pre-1972 Sound Recordings Trevor Reed* Introduction................. ................... .....275 Part I: Current Federal and Tribal Laws Governing Pre-1972 Sound Recordings ......................................278 A. Non-Copyright Federal Statutes ........... .................279 B. Common Law Copyright .........................282 C. Aboriginal Title Enforced by Common Law Doctrines ..........284 Part II: Case Study: Collectors' Rights versus Tribal Rights ...................287 A. Laura Boulton: The Music Hunter..........................288 i. Application of Non-Copyright Federal Statutes ................291 ii. Application of Common-law Copyright Doctrine..............293 iii. Application of Aboriginal Title Doctrine .... .......294 B. Summary: Uncertainty in Current Law Regarding Pre-1972 Sound Recordings Made on Reservation Lands......................295 Part III: Implications for the Next Copyright Act......... ................296 A. Is the Copyright Act Applicable to Tribes? ....... ........298 B. Potential Tribal Concerns over the Application of the Copyright Act to Pre-1972 Sound Recordings ..................301 i. Initial Vesting of Ownership .............. .......301 ii. Limitations on Exclusive Rights ............. .....302 C. Accounting for Ontological Differences through Tribal Jurisprudence .................................305 Conclusion ..................................... ......309 INTRODUCTION A familiar story is told in Indian Country: a researcher arrives on a Native American reservation and begins recording ceremonial songs and oral histories; *Trevor Reed (Hopi) is a J.D. Candidate at Columbia Law School and a Ph.D. Candidate at Columbia University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in the Department of Music. Research for this Note was supported in part by a generous fellowship from the Ford Foundation. The author wishes to thank Professors June Besek, Aaron Fox, Wilton Kooyahoema, Stewart Koyiymptewa, and Steven McSloy for providing guidance on this Note. The author also thanks Gregory Ablavsky, Steven Dubin, Joan Jeffri, 275