Copyright risks, and the law

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheRealWaldo
  • Start date Start date
I wouldn't touch the place with a 300 foot pole, they ask you to agree to the terms and conditions without listing them.

W.
 
TheRealWaldo said:
I'm posting this hopefully so you all have a better understanding.

1) Copyrights are formed the instant a work is created. No, a song does not have to be registered for it to be protected by the law.

W.
Click to expand...

BUT!!!! How would you have a leg to stand on in court if some schmuck snags your work? Check out the following....

A little excerpt from the Horses mouth:
"Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin."

If more interested....I have taken the liberty of attaching the rest.

COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION
In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright. However, registration is not a condition of copyright protection. Even though registration is not a requirement for protection, the copyright law provides several inducements or advantages to encourage copyright owners to make registration. Among these advantages are the following:

Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.

Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin.

If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.

If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.

Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies. For additional information, request Publication No. 563 "How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Right," from: U.S. Customs Service, P.O. Box 7404, Washington, D.C. 20044. See the U.S. Customs Service Website at www.customs.gov for online publications

Which also answers a few other questions that have been floating around in the forum....hope this helps.

Smooches
CER
 
Although you couldn't 'sue' you could launch cease and desist orders, etc..

I.e., without registration in the US (different in other countries), you don't stand to gain financially, or recoup fiscal losses.

W.
 
Dunno about you big W....but I'd wanna sue the piss outta them...I am sure the most artists would. Wouldn't you agree?

I am sure that most would try to "recoup fiscal losses" as you put it...I am sure that most aren't in the business to lose money.
 
I used to host a site for guitar players to post clips of different guitar amps. People from around the world were contributing to the site and we were building up a pretty good sized library of amps. Then from out of nowhere I got a cease and desist. Turns out there was some joker going around the web finding cool clips of amps and uploading them. That becomes a big problem when the lawful owner of those clips finds out about it. I was the only tangible thing they could latch onto. Some joker hiding behind an internet handle was causing the problems, but my name, address, and telephone number are easily available from the registrar. Talk about a headache.

Do yourself (and everyone else) a favor. Secure mechanical licenses before publishing covers on the net. It's not hard...just write the Harry Fox Agency. Oh yeah, and never pass off someone else's work as your own. ;)
 
I don't understand all the fuss....:( I can get sued if I wipe my ass with too much TP. Why even bother doing OPS (other peoples shit/songs) Our society is in a litigation nightmare. Why push it. I have done covers, but just for my own personal enjoyment and maybe I might let a few family members listen to them, but I cant get over being ashamed to do OPS..... Screw the whole frickin music industry. I will never buy another Metallica CD and that was their choice for being hypocrits. I say lets stop buying OPS , promoted by the music industry and just continue to do our own music and give it away as we all here love to do. I get a good feeling when I give my stuff away and some people like it and the music industry doesnt get jack diddly shit. :D

Waldo, With your web development experience you should'nt have any problem making money at it. Im finally starting to get side jobs after 5 years of doing it for fun. We can't give it all away-lol.
Myx
 
crawdad said:
No questions, but I do believe that all you say is fact. Its good for people to know, for sure. In this day and age where many people think artists should give their work away for free, its nice to know that this is not the case, in reality. I only post my own work on Nowhere, BTW.
Click to expand...

Artist give there work away for free - please send a lawn service to me for the 3 acres I have. I would like it cut for free.

:D :cool:
 
It's a really a special case. You have songs, recorded sounds, audio, people, audiences...well you know,... a lot of weird combinations of stuff. It's hard to compare it to any thing else.

It's got a lot of aspects of everything in existence, physical, spiritual, metaphysical, philosophical, science, technology, you name it.

Like, someone has to hear something for free first. But it would be nice if a musician could be paid at this first step. Then the listener hopefully inspired to buy it, eventually. I'm starting down a road here and it's a very long road, and I'm not even prepared to expend the mental work required to explore this huge area. My only point is, it's a really big bunch of stuff and so many aspects to it, grey areas, b&w areas, and the problem I have with it is that people/companies/etc. want to control a lot of it and the parts they are trying to control and exploit, aren't really able to be controlled. Or they just don't have the flexible solutions required for this very big area. I'd like to include some examples here of what the heck I'm trying to say, but I'm done. If I'm gonna say it right, it's gotta be done in a word processor and composed with a little more time and effort but I think we all know kinda what i'm getting at. :eek:
 
shit, and I forgot to dowload "Safety Dance" off of Sabbath's site.

Ya snooze ya loose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top