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  #1  
Old 02-25-2009, 03:46 PM
donter donter is offline
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Need help on copyright sent away to copyright office they sent me 2 different forms one is form SR the other TX. Everybody told me to get a CD so I did. Do I just fill out the form send in the money with CD or write the music on paper send in CD together? Feel a little dumb here usually if it is in print I can understand it but now a little confused
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Old 02-25-2009, 06:54 PM
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have you checked here it looks like now you can register online or download form CO and the instructions for that form http://www.copyright.gov/forms/
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Old 02-26-2009, 12:19 AM
solidwalnut solidwalnut is offline
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Originally Posted by donter View Post
Need help on copyright sent away to copyright office they sent me 2 different forms one is form SR the other TX. Everybody told me to get a CD so I did. Do I just fill out the form send in the money with CD or write the music on paper send in CD together? Feel a little dumb here usually if it is in print I can understand it but now a little confused
Need more info. Like Keywind says, you may just be able to use form CO on line, but it depends on what you're doing. Did you write a song and now you have a CD of the song? You should submit whatever you can. If the nature of your work is music only, send the CD. If the the nature of your work is music and lyrics, send a lyric or lead sheet as well. Send whatever you feel supports your claim that this is your song.

"Everybody told me to get a CD so I did". Tell me what you mean. The copyright office sent you the form SR because that's what you CAN submit if you're wanting to copyright a collection of tunes on a CD, but that's not necessarily the way to go. Tell us what you're trying to do.

Steve
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Old 02-26-2009, 05:09 PM
donter donter is offline
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OK what I'm trying to do is I have 5 songs music and lyrics just want them copyrighted. I have a CD with them performed, it would be easy to write them out. To be honest I don't know why I am having such a difficult time with this. Any info will be appeciated
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Old 03-01-2009, 07:32 PM
solidwalnut solidwalnut is offline
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OK what I'm trying to do is I have 5 songs music and lyrics just want them copyrighted. I have a CD with them performed, it would be easy to write them out. To be honest I don't know why I am having such a difficult time with this. Any info will be appeciated
Ok. So it depends on how you want to approach this. IF you want these songs individually protected with a registration, which is how it's done if you think that any of them might generate any income on their own, then go through the pains and the expense and submit each individually. Burn a CD for each song and write out a lyric/lead sheet and submit them each song individually.

IF you really don't care that the songs are individually protected, then you could submit them all at one time and get an SR registration. It's definitely less expensive, but in doing this you're not defining the nature of each individual work. You're only getting a registration for the sound recording of all five songs as a collection.

It's not that any of these songs aren't individually protected. I mean, if you decided to sue someone for use of one of the songs, you could take this registration to the judge and play it and he would most likely find in favor of you. BUT since you didn't register the individual work, you wouldn't have the protection of the government in saying that it would illegal if someone else recorded this individual work (maybe they changed it up a bit) and then submitted for a copyright registration of that. People who understand copyright law could take advantage of you on this.

So it depends on what level of protection you want. Keep in mind that for any of these, if there isn't any or very little money changing hands, no one is going to bother going to court. But you might also keep in mind that if you feel there is any chance of signing any of the songs individually to a publishing contract that it's in your best interest to have a copryight registration for each individual work.

Hope this is helpful.

Steve
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Old 03-01-2009, 07:55 PM
arthur arthur is offline
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Wow....no more form PA. Mmm. It's been a few years for me. I haven't registered ©'s in a while......
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Old 03-03-2009, 11:23 AM
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Not to be contrarian, but I have it on good authority (an examiner from the Copyright office) that when a work is registered, it is not only protected as a compilation, but each of the separate components of the compilation is also protected.

My suggestions would be to register your CD on form SR, and list the titles of each piece on the CD on the Form SR. This makes certain that they will be protected. If this in any way violates the Copyright Office procedures, they will email you, tell you the problem, and tell you what your options are. They are slow, but they are helpful when they act.

Bill

Ps. Required Disclaimer: I've been copyrighting various things since 1975 and have had a good amount of experience. However, I am not a copyright attorney and this is not meant to be legal advice.
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Old 03-04-2009, 08:47 AM
solidwalnut solidwalnut is offline
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Not to be contrarian, but I have it on good authority (an examiner from the Copyright office) that when a work is registered, it is not only protected as a compilation, but each of the separate components of the compilation is also protected...
Bill, I know you're right. The gov't would back you up in a court of law on this. But it all boils down to money.

If there's a possiblity of this individual song being signed to a publisher (and as you probably know any good publisher will then have you also sign over exclusive exploitation rights) then the publisher will also re-file the individual song with the LOC showing that they are now the owner of that copyright. If, during the duration of the contract, there is an infringement then it's the publisher's job to take the infringer to court.

What I'm not sure of is this...If the song remains in perpetuity (forever) with the publisher, then he has no worries as far as trying to take someone to court over an infringement. But if the agreement has an end date, then (as far as I'm aware) it's up to the individual to re-file and make a claim for the song. Otherwise, if there's an infringement after the agreement, a publisher could claim that it's not their song anymore, therefore they're not going to spend the time and money defending it. At the end of the agreement, they will send a notice to the LOC stating that they no longer own the copyright.

Nobody's going to court in the first place unless there's some real money at stake, anyway. So we have to assume that there's some real money on the table for this hypothetical to have any legs...

So in this case, donter or donter's lawyer would claim that the original work was protected by the SR in a compilation. The lawyer for the other side would argue that 1) they now have a (pending or current) copyright registration for the work and 2) donter surrendered the rights to that original when he signed a publishing contract and that publisher re-filed for a new copyright registration of the work, rendering the original null and void and 3) the previous publisher sent a notice to the LOC stating that they no longer own the work. The gov't representative would claim that the original SR and the backing recording will show that this is indeed the same work.

All I'm saying is that if the unscrupulous other side really had some money at stake they will do anything they can to not lose any of it. It's not worth the time or the expense to not do whatever you can to protect your work.

You're right, donter would have the backing of the gov't that this is his original work. But if there's an infringement and there's real money involved, lawyers will smell blood in the water.

Call me paranoid! But better safe than sorry!

Steve
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Old 03-04-2009, 09:06 AM
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Bill Cory Bill Cory is offline
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Steve -- Your viewpoint is right and your scenario is accurate and scary ...

If the SR is filed for the compilation, which protects each song in it, it seems as if there would be time to fe-file for an individual song or two if and when a publisher expresses interest in it -- don't you think?
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Old 03-05-2009, 07:05 AM
solidwalnut solidwalnut is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Cory View Post
Steve -- Your viewpoint is right and your scenario is accurate and scary ...

If the SR is filed for the compilation, which protects each song in it, it seems as if there would be time to fe-file for an individual song or two if and when a publisher expresses interest in it -- don't you think?
Oh I think you're right. All it takes is to have a copy of the application that's been submitted to show them that you've filed for it. I guess if you really wanted to be on fire you could also request a return receipt when you mail it. As much time as it takes, I can only guess that as long as you've filed for it before the publishing company does that your registration should come back first :-) But I guess that depends on whether the publishing company has some fast track program with the LOC!!
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1999 Taylor 714ce (pre NT)
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"Rhythm guitar is a trip many people miss..." Tom Petty
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  #11  
Old 03-05-2009, 11:46 AM
donter donter is offline
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Thanks solidwalnut I think you hit on the nose. I talked the people at the copyright office they said use Form SR send the recording and written lyric and music. It would be for the collection which works for me right now. But I see if you have a great song just to have it done by itself. Being when I used to work people would take my ideas and take credit for themselves more than a few times. Just have some protection at least its something. Thanks for the info its been helpful.
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