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Copyright music Copyright Music in Order to Protect Future Profits If you are a budding artist seeking to copyright music that you have labored over, there is good news. Many people confuse copyrighting music with registering music and they are two different things. According to the law in the United States, once you have written or recorded your music in a permanent form, it is copyrighted. Of course, it might help to first understand what it means to copyright music in the first place. A copyright is a certain legal protection that is offered to those who compose creative works. Whether those works be art, music, or the written word. According to the U. S. constitution there are limits that can be placed on the amount of time that the work is exclusively protected. If you copyright music, this means that you and you alone have the right to use your work or allow others to use your work. You also have the right to distribute copies of your work. Whether those copies are in the form of written or sheet music or recorded music to the public as well as the right to perform your music for the public. There is something called fair use that despite your copyright; music written or recorded by you may be used for the purpose of research, news reporting, commentary, or criticism. In other words, there are times when the use of copyrighted material is deemed appropriate without the consent of the one holding the copyright. To copyright music alone is not enough in many cases to protect your music, at least not without going through a lot of hoops in order to do so. One of the things you can do in order to protect your copyright is provide notice of copyright. This is a simple step that includes writing a simple statement to the effect of the word "copyright", the date, and your name at the bottom of your sheet music or on the case for the recording or the actual recording itself. CD's are the most common means for recording devices today and a notice of copyright can easily be added to the exterior of your CD or on your label if you have one printed. In case you are wondering: why copyright music? The answer is rather simple, so others cannot take credit for your creative genius. For an added layer of protection you may want to consider registering your copyright as well. Registering your copyright will provide you with formal legal documentation of your ownership of your music should anyone else attempt to lay claim to your music or any other dispute about true ownership/authorship come about. You must have your copyright registered if you wish to file a copyright infringement suit and it is, in my humble opinion, better to not only copyright music early on but also to register your copyright before it could possibly become an issue. Registering while not entirely painless is not as difficult a process as you might think. Basically it involves filling out an application, paying a filing fee (check with the U. S. Copyright Office for the current amount), and a copy of the work being protected (this will not be returned). It's also important to remember that your music doesn't have to be published in order for you to obtain a copyright. Music should be copyrighted and registered long before the publication process in order to protect your rights as the creator of the music. Whether you are dabbling with cute little limericks or writing masterpieces and concertos or are rock and rolls next super star you want to make sure to copyright music earlier rather than later for the best possible outcome should problems arise.

Software Copyright Laws Software Copyright Laws Fail to Provide Adequate Protection Software copyright laws are among the most difficult to enforce among the masses. Many companies and corporations are also well known for overlooking these laws, which were designed to protect the makes of software from not earning their worth. Perhaps one of the biggest hitches leading so many software businesses to go out of business is the fact that they have a great deal of difficulty actually enforcing the software copyright laws that are in place and getting the money that is owed them according to the agreements that have been made with those on the using end of the software. Software developers, particularly in the corporate world design software that makes other companies run more efficiently. The software allows these companies to save millions of dollars each year. Software copyright laws protect the interests of the software developers that create these massive programs. These programs are often designed specifically for that one company and are very expensive. The agreement often consists of a certain number of users with the company purchasing more licenses or copies of the software during expansions or paying some sort of royalties for the use of the software. The purchasing companies agree to this and then more often than not fail to honor that agreement. The agreement is what allows this company to use that software, this agreement is what allows that permission. When companies aren't living up to their end of this agreement they are not only guilty of breaching that agreement but also of breaking software copyright laws. The trouble always lies in proving that they are not honoring the contract and the extent and duration of the breach. Some of the ways that companies will argue in defense of them not paying the royalties, additional fees, purchasing additional software, etc. is that they upgraded computers and reused the old software (they did actually purchase the rights to use the original software and by doing so feel that they have broken no software copyright laws) the problem lies in the fact that adding ten new computers and placing the software on those should mean that you remove it from or get rid of 10 old computers. This is rarely how it works. So now they've basically stolen ten copies of software that can be well worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Multiply this by 10, 20, or 100 companies trying this or worse each year and the offending companies are costing software developers millions of dollars in profits. This is when software copyright laws are not as far reaching in their scope as they really need to be. Software copyright laws exist to protect the software companies from this type of abuse and misuse, however, the hands of the companies are almost unilaterally tied when it comes to proving that software copyright laws have been broken in court. There are always exceptions to every rule. In this case big business software developers that abuse the software copyright laws to the point of breaking make the exceptions rather than miserly consumers that do not wish to pay for the products they are consuming. The big boys are able to do this by offering licenses for their software and claiming that these laws do not apply to their situation because they are not actually selling the software only 'renting' out permission for people or companies to 'use' that software. The true irony is that these practices began as a response to the corporate irresponsibility mentioned above. It's amazing that the very software copyright laws that were created to protect these companies can't protect their consumers from the greed of the developing companies.

Copyright Music Form The Copyright Music Form is your First Step to Protecting your Work Many confuse a copyright music form with an actual copyright. The form is actually what you get from the U. S. Copyright Office when you are ready to register your copyright. It is highly recommended that everyone who writes a piece of music take the time and register their copyright. It is also important to understand that once you've either written or recorded your original music, it is actually copyrighted. In other words you do not actually need to fill out any type of copyright music form in order to have your music copyrighted. While registering is not the act of copyrighting your work it is very necessary if you plan to file suit for copyright infringement. It is also better to fill out the copyright music form they offer earlier in the life of your music rather than later as the timing of the registration of your copyright can have an impact on the actual awards you can receive should you win your lawsuit. There is also something quite satisfying about having your musical works registered with the copyright office. I can't explain the feeling as it will be different for everyone but if you've written music, you really should see for yourself. You can find the copyright music form from the U. S. Copyright Office online quite easily. There is more involved than simply filling out the paperwork in order to register your copyright. You must also pay a fee, the actual fee changes so you should make sure you are aware of what the current fee is before sending in your work. An insufficient fee can result in delays. You also must send an actual copy of the music you are registering the copyright on. Your copy may either be the written or recorded music you wish to register but must include everything you wish the registration to cover. When filling out the copyright music form it is important to provide as many accurate details as possible. While your registration is active the day your application is received you may not actually receive your certificate for several months. Really and truly, as far as government agencies go, this is one of the easier ones to deal with as far as red tape. The procedure in addition to the copyright music form is straight forward and not designed in a manner that would be too easily confusing. The copyright music form is only one step in the process of registering your music's copyright. While it is an important step if you forget the other steps there will be delays in the registration process. Read the form completely before filling it out and if you are printing your form from the computer, I highly recommend printing more than one copyright music form to insure that you have extras if you make a mistake and in order to register your future musical copyrights. Your first copyright registration will be the most nerve wracking. This makes perfect sense when you consider that trying anything new requires some degree of 'anticipation'. It is also likely to be your most thrilling. Even in this particular piece of music ends up being the worst piece you've ever written (most of our first endeavors are our worst) there is a lot to be said about the fact that you've actually taken the steps to insure your future is a great feeling. If your first piece of music sells and is someday published that is wonderful. If not, you are still ready for the next piece and have gone through the process of filling out a music copyright form before so you know what to expect.