\nThe following definitions apply in this Article:\n(1) 'Article' means the tangible medium upon which sounds or images are recorded or otherwise stored, including any original phonograph record, disc, tape, audio or video cassette, wire, film, or other medium now known or later developed on which sounds or images, or both, can be recorded or otherwise stored, or any copy or reproduction which duplicates, in whole or in part, the original.\n(2) 'Fixed' means that the work has been recorded in a tangible medium of expression, by or under the authority of the author, and its embodiment is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. A work consisting of sounds or images, or both, that are being transmitted is 'fixed' for the purposes of this section if a fixation of the work is being made simultaneously with its transmission.\n(3) 'Owner' means the person who owns the sounds fixed in any master phonograph record, master disc, master tape, master film, or other device used for reproducing recorded sounds on phonograph records, discs, tapes, films, or other owns the sounds fixed in any master phonograph record, master disc, master tape, master film, or other device used for reproducing recorded sounds on phonograph records, discs, tapes, films, or other articles on which sound is or can be recorded and from which the transferred sounds are directly or indirectly derived, or the person who owns the rights to record or authorize the recording of a live performance. (1973, c. 1279, s. 1; 1989, c. 589, s. 1; 2003-159, s. 1.)
North Carolina Legal Code