https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 22:42:53 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54606 Thu, 11 Sep 2003 18:57:44 +0000
I won't do it.  With my luck people would just download the song anyway.]]> Guitar Noise Songwriting Club Nick Torres https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54606 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54605 Thu, 11 Sep 2003 18:17:08 +0000
But don't do it - OK. We sort of like having you around here.


A  8)]]> Guitar Noise Songwriting Club Alan Green https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54605 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54604 Fri, 05 Sep 2003 13:55:28 +0000 Guitar Noise Songwriting Club NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54604 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54603 Fri, 05 Sep 2003 08:11:58 +0000 Guitar Noise Songwriting Club Nick Torres https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54603 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54602 Fri, 05 Sep 2003 07:42:26 +0000
There's a difference between a copyright and a copyright registration.

A copyright is a claim of ownership on a work.  It's a theoretical/intellectual/legal thing... if you wrote a song, you own the copyright, period.  You don't need to do a darn thing, and it's copyrighted the instant you finish creating the work.

Now here's where the catch comes in -- if you wrote a song, and I record an identical song as mine, it comes down to a legal pi**ing match.  We each do our best to prove that we wrote it first, and are entitled to the income from it.  You can't sue somebody for copyright infringement unless you've REGISTERED the copyright first.

Copyrights are registered (in the US, anyway) with the U.S. Copyright Office.  You essentially fill out a form, attach a copy of your work, and send it in with a check.  They send you back a certificate of copyright registration.  You can download the forms from:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#af

You'll need either form PA (that's for Performing Arts) for sheet music, or for SR (that's for Sound Recordings) if it's on tape/CD/etc.  

It currently costs US$30, but you can copyright a whole batch of tunes at once as a 'collection' like "Songs from the Summer of '03", and the entire contents will be registered for one fee.

Ok... here comes catch #2:

Registering a copyright doesn't prove you own a copyright.

Like I said, a copyright exists the moment you write a song.  If you write a song today, and I write the same song tomorrow, and I register it next Monday, you can register it Tuesday and STILL sue me and win!

In the end, it comes down to who can prove the earliest date of composition.  I can prove I wrote it some time prior to Monday (the date the copyright was registered), but you may have performed it today for a crowd of 1000 people, had the performance videotaped by a local TV station, and present a tape of the news broadcast as evidence.  Since you've now established proof that you had the song today, that trumps my next Monday registration, and it's now up to me to prove that I wrote it some time prior to your evidence.

Confusing, eh?

Just thing of Copyright Law as another page from the 'Full Employment for Entertainment Lawyers Act'. :)

Tom]]> Guitar Noise Songwriting Club NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-54602 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-1229 Thu, 04 Sep 2003 23:25:28 +0000 Guitar Noise Songwriting Club stellar19 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-noise-songwriting-club/copyright-quest/#post-1229