This year’s World Intellectual Property (IP) Day spotlights the deep connection between music and IP—an intersection where the structure of law empowers artistic freedom. To mark the occasion, we sat down with two partners who not only practice IP law but also bring it to life on stage.
Doug Crisman and Alex Klett—both active musicians and seasoned IP lawyers—shared their insights on how IP law shapes the music industry, how their musical roots influence their legal work, and why artists and innovators need to understand the value of protecting what they create—especially with emerging technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping the creative process. From classical to modern rock, they explore how music and IP law continue to evolve in harmony.
World IP Day 2025 focuses on music and IP. Why do you think IP rights are especially important in the music industry today?
Doug: IP rights worked well in the past to support composers, performers and record labels, which were pillars of the traditional music industry. In the last 30 years or so, these players and their IP rights have been challenged by continuous technical innovation, which gave birth to digital media and portable players, music streaming, personal music production software, and, most recently, generative AI trained on existing music that can mimic original compositions and distinctive performers. These innovations have undeniably benefited consumers and creators, but they also challenge the traditional revenue models of the entire industry. IP laws will need to change with the times and technology to continue to support and encourage creators to keep delighting us with new works.
Alex: I think IP rights are especially important in the music sphere today because the technical possibilities are endless to copy, transmit, modify, imitate, sample, and even have AI create music in no time. This leads to significant risks for everyone in the traditional music creation and exploitation chain. At the same time, there are many consumers who think music should be available for free all the time. In this world we live in, it is more important than ever to have a functioning system of IP rights to address these issues.
Has your musical background influenced how you approach your IP work?
Doug: As a trumpet player, I’ve spent thousands of hours practicing by myself, which is great, but the most rewarding part of being a musician is playing with other musicians, whether that’s in an orchestra, jazz ensemble, rock band (like Morgan Lewis & ROCkius, where I play lead trumpet), or brass quintet. This is a lot like my approach to IP work, where I apply years of individual technical experience and legal practice, along with other dedicated Morgan Lewis team members, each with complementary skills, to achieve harmonious and excellent results for our clients.
Alex: My interest in music led me into copyright law and later IP more broadly. I wanted to do copyright law because it is the intersection between music and the law and a fascinating area of the law. And I think my interest in music allows me to look at issues with a different or additional angle than would otherwise be the case.
If you could give one piece of IP advice to aspiring musicians or bands, what would it be?
Doug: Don’t sell yourselves short as creators—meaning don’t neglect the IP rights you create throughout your musical career. Protect and carefully license your music, band name, likeness, photos, recordings, and videos. Who knows, like The Beatles’ first recordings from Hamburg or Paul McCartney’s photos from the early ‘60s, that IP could have real value one day. More importantly, as a creator, your IP is your identity and legacy, so you should protect and preserve it.
Alex: Get a good IP attorney as early as possible.
What is your favorite IP-related moment in music history (e.g., a famous court case or a big licensing deal)?
Doug: I am a huge Beethoven fan (I was inspired as a youngster by Schroeder from the Charlie Brown comics), and as an IP licensing attorney, I’m fascinated by Beethoven’s skills at leveraging his reputation and musical brilliance (he was the first rock star) to license his compositions for substantial compensation while also preserving his artistic integrity and legacy through careful attention to publication quality. As an interesting twist, historical accounts suggest that Beethoven occasionally entered into overlapping agreements for the same musical works, such as licensing “exclusive” publication rights for his masterpiece “Missa solemnis” to several different publishers!
Alex: I am primarily (not exclusively) a classical musician. And I am fascinated by the struggles of musicians in the 18th and 19th centuries before there was a proper copyright law system in place. Beethoven fought in court in 1802 over his string quintet in C major, op. 29, for which he had granted a six-month exclusivity (common at the time) to the nobleman who had supported it and who he had dedicated it to before wanting to get it published and distributed by a big publisher. But the nobleman concluded an agreement with another publisher during the exclusivity period. Beethoven sued this other publisher—and lost the case. He did not write another string quintet after this.
What song best captures how you feel about IP law?
Doug: It’s not one song, but the entire medley on the second side of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. It’s amazingly creative and diverse, comprising multiple songs and fragments of varied moods, tempos, and styles, all well-recorded and blended into a cohesive and satisfying musical experience, with key contributions from all four Beatles. This is like IP law (and patent law in particular), where we practitioners are always learning, working with different types of clients (individuals, universities, startups, and big corporations) on varied projects related to different technologies as part of a team.
Alex: Not a song, but a classical piece: Joseph Haydn’s “Surprise Symphony No. 94.” IP law is about being creative (also in applying and enforcing it), and it continues to be full of occasional surprises!