> From: Dick Spottswood
> "... I thought when you published something without copyrighting it, the
> work was automatically in the public domain."
On 8/8/2010 1:53 PM, Bob Olhsson wrote:
> Not at all!
>
> Copyright registration only establishes a date and entitles you to collect
> statutory damages and attorneys' fees from an infringer in addition to
> actual damages. Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Not if it was published before 1/1/78 and not copyrighted. Under the
old law, anything published but not copyrighted was P.D., and if it was
P.D. at the point the new law came into effect, it stayed P.D.
On 8/8/2010 1:42 PM, Malcolm Rockwell wrote:
> I base my assumption on this premise: If I write a song and do not
> copyright it with the fed and find out that someone else has recorded
> and released it I can still sue, and probably win, based on inherent
> copyright.
If you published it or recorded it before 1/1/78 without copyrighting
the song, it is P.D.
> If I wrote it and can prove it, it's mine, along with any profits the
> issuer may have generated according to a number of court rulings (I
> cannot cite chapter and verse on this, but I'll bet a music lawyer
> can). No public domain involved.
If you wrote it without publishing it, you might not be able to prove
you wrote it. If you published it after 1/1/78 without copyrighting it,
your ability to recover damages is much more limited than if you
copyrighted it.
> However, if I abandon the piece - and I've had this happen to me - I
> have pretty much no recourse when I hear it being performed or
> released by someone else on down the line unless I want to spend a lot
> of money going after them.
> Malcolm
>
Publish or perish.
Mike Biel [log in to unmask]
> *******
>
> On 8/8/2010 6:58 AM, Dick Spottswood wrote:
>> The act of printing and issuing them is an
>> inherent act of copyright.
>>
>> Is that right? I thought when you published something without
>> copyrighting it, the work was automatically in the public domain.
>>
>> Dick
>>
>
>
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