Copyright Question

[Cotton Candy Lover]

For all artist out there, when you copyright a song, do you need to copyright it in every country you plan to sell the cd in. Such as, a U.S. copyright, in theory, would/should hold absolutely no weight over in France or Laos, right?

[FoxVox005]

I think a copy protection applies all over the globe ... it's trademarks & licenses that have to be applied for separately outside the US. --but don't quote me. You might be able to find out here: http://www.uspto.gov/

[Cotton Candy Lover]

Well, while it might apply across the globe, it's only enforceable if your in the jurisdiction where applicable, right? I mean, if I lived in another country, then how could the U.S. copyright be enforced unless I went to America??? Just curious.

[SINMIN]

There's no such thing as an international copyright. Basically it depends on the laws in each country.

[CanGLAMada]

Hi,Part of the business course i took recently talked about copyright laws and your right,it's only good in the country your from because to fight it say in China where Major bootlegging goes on would be pointless and cost big bucks!I live in Canada so i would only get copyright for my country and the U.S.!I think the best solution is to get copyright protection in only the major markets,U.S./U.K./Japan/Europe!ttyl/JIM

[SINMIN]

Even hitting all of the major markets becomes pretty expensive. So just do like Carl I guess and fake it.

[creeper2]

shhhhhh carl, you are giving away valuable secrets.

there is also the poor mans (thats me) way of copyrighting. take what you are trying to protect (music, words) and mail them to yourself. at the post office make sure they stamp the postmark over any part of the envelope that can be opened and resealed. when you get it in the mail never open it. if by chance someone blatantly steals your song you can contend that you recorded it first and can prove it by what is in the envelope. i had a whole booklet that a music attorney sent me a while ago that had some pretty interesting facts and some good ideas in it.

i do remember that there are options in copyrighting. you can copyright your cd as a whole (cheaper) or song by song (more expensive). the benefit of song by song, at least how it was put to me, was if someone (of importance) heard your song and knew only the title they could search though the copyright office for the song title and track you down. if you do the cd as a whole, the song title will not show up in a search, just the cd title. same with words. also, copyrighting your song will not necessarily stop someone from ripping you off. you must copyright your music AND copyright your words. you must do both for complete protection. if you just copyright your song then someone can take your lyrics and put them to different music as long as it don't resemble your song they are safe.

i will try to find that booklet when i get some free time.

[Laur]

I think that it depends on the country you live in.. here in France, the copyrights for songs (run by SACEM) are international, I think it must be the same in the US.

[SINMIN]

It would be IMPOSSIBLE to enforce the law of one country in another country. There are treatises between some countries - but for the most part you're screwed.

Anything ya ever didn't want to know about copyrights, trademarks and patents in the US can be found at http://www.copyright.gov

And anything else is boring legal mumbo-jumbo. I like the little cheater ideas that Bill has. This creates litigation. And litigation keeps me employed.

[creeper2]

and keeping sin employed keeps sin happy, and keeping sin happy keeps males around the world safer, and keeping males around the world safer keeps.....well, me safer.