Bruce Furst, a major music industry executive, attended University of California, Los Angeles and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. He went on to law school and specialized in Intellectual Property, an key area of concentration in his career. Currently, Bruce Furst works in the field of music and film licensing, negotiating contracts for music for use in major motion picture soundtracks, as well as producing for a variety of film and music ventures. While an undergraduate at UCLA, Bruce Furst received a Speaker of the Year Award in addition to a Most Improved Player Award. After he graduated from UCLA, he earned his law degree and began a successful career in Intellectual Property Law. Bruce Furst launched his career as a licensee with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and remained in the position from November 1989 to December 1999. His success with the MLBPA led him to Paramount Pictures. Hired as a licensee, Bruce Furst dealt in distributions and negotiations for film rights. He then found a great deal of success in the music and entertainment industry. In the Christmas holiday season of 2006, Bruce Furst served as Executive Producer of an album with Sony BMG Music that included artists Christina Aguilera, TLC, Luther Vandross, Toni Braxton, Destiny’s Child, Tony Bennett, and Gloria Estefan. The album, titled “Christmas Classics: Yesterday, Today & Forever,” was the number one bestselling in its category. Currently, Bruce Furst prepares numerous projects in the entertainment world while launching his own daily radio program. He is President and CEO of Ashber Corporation, a music licensing firm. Bruce Furst lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Intellectual property laws grant individuals exclusive rights to their nonmaterial assets, including music, literature, art, inventions, designs, and phrases.
Today, we recognize intellectual property through trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other legally binding protections. The North German Confederation first used the term “intellectual property” in 1867, providing for legislative protection in its constitution. In 1893, secretariats established by the Paris Convention and the Berne Convention merged to form the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property. The organization now exists as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an arm of the United Nations.
Since the United States was not present at the Berne Convention, the phrase did not enter popular usage in the country until the 20th century and WIPO’s inception. The ideas behind intellectual property law predate the phrase. Historians regard the British 1623 Statute of Monopolies as the first patent law and the 1710 Statute of Anne as the first copyright law. Queen Elizabeth I granted monopoly privileges to individuals, an early form of patent law that gave them the exclusive right to produce and sell the invention. Two centuries later, the Queen’s prerogative entered into formal law. In the 19th century, several European philosophers and theorists argued the feasibility of intellectual property law and what qualified for protection under new laws.
At present, intellectual property laws primarily drive innovation and creativity. If an individual possesses the exclusive rights to an invention, he or she sees a real financial incentive to create and a way to defray the costs of research and development. Most large businesses now possess value primarily in their intellectual property.
Over the past century, businesses invested in the development of intellectual property have rapidly expanded, generating increasingly more revenue than more traditional industries. For more insight into the foundations of modern copyright and patent law, watch the following brief documentary:
