[Air-L] public private

Gilbert B. Rodman gbrodman at mindspring.com
Fri Aug 10 14:53:48 PDT 2007


Well, no.  IP law *is* pretty clear about this -- at least with respect
to music -- and your rights as the composer of a song DON'T prevent
other people from performing/recording it.  The world is filled with bad
cover bands (and, to a lesser extent, good ones) precisely because it's
legal to perform other people's songs without their permission.  The
mechanism by which this is achieved is called a compulsory license, and
the only major exception to it that looks like what Ed describes below
is that the songwriter has the right to choose who records his/her song
first.  But it's perfectly legal for anyone who so desires to
perform/record someone else's composition once it's already been recorded.

In the context of recording, the cover artist is obligated to give
proper credit to the original songwriters and to pay royalties.  In the
context of live performance, the ASCAPs and BMIs of the world
theoretically keep track of such things -- though it's the performance
venues, rather than the performers, who pay the bill (at least
directly).  What's not legal is passing those songs off as your own --
THAT'S fodder for a lawsuit -- but you have no legal grounds to sue for
infringement simply because someone else plays a tune you wrote without
your say-so.

To the best of my knowledge, there's no actual analog for a compulsory
license in other media -- so this analogy isn't going to do much good,
either way, to settle the question of what to do with online materials. 
But if we're gonna go down this path at all, let's at least get the
basic facts straight.

cheers
gil


Ed Lamoureux wrote:
> sorry
> IP law is really clear on this.
> once I put the ideas into form, they are protected by copyright law.
> You can't copy my song without permission. If you do, it's infringement.
> Doesn't matter where you do it.  If I find out about it, I can seek a  
> cease and desist order
>
> On Aug 10, 2007, at 12:54 PM, Conor Schaefer wrote:
>
>   
>>  It's more of a philosophical issue to me than a legal
>> one, the answer to whether street performance of a piece grants  
>> another
>> the right to play it. This is especially pertinent in your analogy to
>> the net, because of the compartmentalization of spaces. For instance,
>> while you as a street performer might take issue with my playing your
>> song on the corner opposite you, what if I'm doing it on the other  
>> side
>> of town? What if on another continent? While word might eventually  
>> reach
>> your ears of this, don't assume that you could use a search engine to
>> find work you made--especially if it's multimedia, an area in which  
>> the
>> search industry is trying desperately to improve performance.
>>     
>
> Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D.
> Associate Professor, Multimedia Program
> and Department of Communication
> Co-Director, New Media Center
> 1501 W. Bradley
> Bradley University
> Peoria IL  61625
> 309-677-2378
> <http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/index.html>
> <http://gcc.bradley.edu/mm/>
> AIM/IM & skype: dredleelam
> Second Life: Professor Beliveau
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers: 
> http://www.aoir.org/
>
>   



More information about the Air-L mailing list