CopyRights....

[hockey97]

Hi I have been hearing many people argue about this. So I mainly going to ask here about it.

Is it true that when you create something right when you finish it you mainly have the copyrights of that project?? Some told me yes .

then some say no becuse you need some gov document to prove it, becuse otherwise everone can claim other peoples works.

Then heard about the poor mans copyright where if you made a cd or software you can just registered it with the postoffice as a federal doc and send it to yourself.

What do you mainly think about this?? This is what I hear that you don't need to pay for copyrights with the gov those only insure something that may be worth millions or if a company invest millions or a high number of $$$ in their project so they can ensure that they own the rights.

[BusinessAdviser]

Here it is, straight from the U.S. Copyright Office:

"Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright."

The second you put copyrightable material into fixed form, you own the copyright to the material.

However, in order to further protect our copyright ownership in works, we register them with the Copyright Office. This puts the world on notice that you are the copyright owner of your work.

[hockey97]

thanks for the reply.
So in the U.S copyright department could I also find the copyright owners of song's and art???

like how would you go about when you want to have a song from an artist but don't know who owns it the artist or record comapnies. How can you legally be safe when looking who own's the copy right and make a deal or if the person that owns the copyright would agree to give it free . Would you mainly want to get that in writing should that be mainly be handled by the lawyer or could I just write a small paper that mainly say's that the copyright owner: his sig will agree or allow my company : my sig that will permit me the right to use his songs in my game/ program/ movie what ever project I wanted to use it and he agreed.

I have been looking around to see who owns some of my fav music artists songs. I wanted to send an e-mail to them and ask some questions. I took one artist I liked and looked for the copyright holder havent found it I just know the artist's and the record company they are with.

it's mainly food for thought I don't mainly think I can get famous music producers to allow me to use their work for free or a small fee.

but I mainly want to see how business go abouts without getting in legal trouble to use other artist music. I have seen alot of movies that uses artist music in their films and alway's wanted to know how they get that famous song on the big screen knowing they don't own that.

can you explain how business find the copyright holder and contact them to make deals with.

[BusinessAdviser]

thanks for the reply.
So in the U.S copyright department could I also find the copyright owners of song's and art???

like how would you go about when you want to have a song from an artist but don't know who owns it the artist or record comapnies. How can you legally be safe when looking who own's the copy right and make a deal or if the person that owns the copyright would agree to give it free . Would you mainly want to get that in writing should that be mainly be handled by the lawyer or could I just write a small paper that mainly say's that the copyright owner: his sig will agree or allow my company : my sig that will permit me the right to use his songs in my game/ program/ movie what ever project I wanted to use it and he agreed.

I have been looking around to see who owns some of my fav music artists songs. I wanted to send an e-mail to them and ask some questions. I took one artist I liked and looked for the copyright holder havent found it I just know the artist's and the record company they are with.

it's mainly food for thought I don't mainly think I can get famous music producers to allow me to use their work for free or a small fee.

but I mainly want to see how business go abouts without getting in legal trouble to use other artist music. I have seen alot of movies that uses artist music in their films and alway's wanted to know how they get that famous song on the big screen knowing they don't own that.

can you explain how business find the copyright holder and contact them to make deals with.

If a copyrighted work has been registered, you might be able to find it there in a search. However, just because something isn't registered doesn't mean that there is no copyright owner of it.

Also, I am not positive, and thus is just my opinion (and obviously not legal advice), but I think that if you infringe on someone's copyright because you mistakenly believed that someone else owned it, and based this mistaken belief on that someone else's representation, you're still going to be liable to the copyright owner, and you'll have to go after that someone else in order to recover your losses due to the fraud.

[hockey97]

ya I agree.

but mainly just courious on how would you go abouts on doing this.

lets say your making an ad for your business. You want a famouse singer song to be played in it.

now how can you contact the owners would it be that you mainly have to contact the artist or a record company? if their was some contact e-mail address for that singer that was fan mail or general would you use that e-mail to ask about who owns the song?

I am just courious on this becuse I see tv ads and even shows like the auto show have famous singers songs used in their presentation.

I know if you just take it and used it in your work and say you didn't know. I know they can still come after you.

All I know is that they must have proof on damages caused by you infringing on their copyrights that you cost them alot of damages to their company.

I always see lawsuits with microsoft one I remeber that their gamepad used a joystick component that texas instruments owns a patent on that and they used it in their product without permission.

I would like how this is really dealt behind the scenes.

[BusinessAdviser]

ya I agree.

but mainly just courious on how would you go abouts on doing this.

lets say your making an ad for your business. You want a famouse singer song to be played in it.

now how can you contact the owners would it be that you mainly have to contact the artist or a record company? if their was some contact e-mail address for that singer that was fan mail or general would you use that e-mail to ask about who owns the song?

I am just courious on this becuse I see tv ads and even shows like the auto show have famous singers songs used in their presentation.

I know if you just take it and used it in your work and say you didn't know. I know they can still come after you.

All I know is that they must have proof on damages caused by you infringing on their copyrights that you cost them alot of damages to their company.

I always see lawsuits with microsoft one I remeber that their gamepad used a joystick component that texas instruments owns a patent on that and they used it in their product without permission.

I would like how this is really dealt behind the scenes.

I would assume that the record company generally owns the copyrights to the artist's work. Contact the record company to inquire.