Once you complete an original musical work and put it in a fixed form (i.e. a CD), you automatically own the copyright. This is the beauty of Copyright Law! However, just because you own the copyright, doesn’t mean it’s easy to prove you were the first creator should someone steal your work.

As such, if you are planning on earning money from your music, or if it would bother you if someone stole your work, you should consider added protection in the form of copyright registration.

Fortunately, copyright registration for your music can be relatively painless, depending on your financial threshold. The cost of copyright registration can vary dramatically. It can range from as little as $4 per musical work to $60 per musical work. When evaluating copyright services for music, ensure you know all costs, fixed and re-occurring. As well, keep an eye out for membership fees or renewal fees that must be paid for your registration to remain valid.

Although it can be tempting, do not rely on the ‘Poor Man’s Copyright Method’ (i.e. registered mail, emailing yourself) because it is highly unlikely to be regarded as proof in a court of law. If you absolutely cannot afford to register your work, emailing the work to yourself is, at least, better than nothing. However, given the time and energy put into creating your music, it’s often well worth the added investment to ensure your work is protected through registration.

If you decide you want to proceed with added copyright protection through registration, here’s what you should do:

o Put your music into a fixed form (for example, CD, DVD, paper, etc.). This is absolutely critical for copyright law to recognize your work. If it’s not in a fixed form, it’s not covered by copyright law.

o Choose a registration service. Copyright law requires you to prove ownership of your work if you wish to proceed in a claim against an infringer. There are a number of copyright services available (Government, Associations, Online, etc.); however, many can be expensive and may not protect your music for the life of copyright (unless you renew your membership). Having said this, there are a number of fabulous services out there…just keep your eyes open and watch for hidden costs.

o Once you have chosen a service that suites your needs, register your music. Upon completion, you will receive a registration certificate that provides protection and proof against infringers, as it provides evidence of the day and time you submitted your work which helps prove ownership. It’s best to register your music as soon as it is finished, before showing it any outside parties. Registration generally involves filling out forms that gather evidence about the musical work.

o Remember to keep a copy of your registration certificate.

Once registered, you are ready to promote your work with the confidence it is protected. Good luck!

Disclaimer
The above information is meant as a general guide to further your copyright knowledge about music registration and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your specific work, you should consult a copyright lawyer in your country.

Justine Shoolman is a Founder of Copyright Creators (CC), a service inspired by the shortfalls of “poor man’s copyright”. CC protects copyright for life with no membership fees. Visit CC today to receive 4 free registrations.

[tags]how to register music, protect copyright, music copyright, copyright registration, copyright online[/tags]

The rights granted through copyright law are very important to the owner of the copyright. As such, it is imperative to understand who the owner of the work is to determine who actually has the rights.

Tip 1: Creator is the Owner
As a general rule, the creator of the copyright (the author) is the owner. When there are several authors involved in the creation of a work, all authors are considered co-authors. It is recommended you determine together, and agree in writing, what share of income from the exploitation of that copyright each of you will earn.

There are, however, a number of circumstances where the author is not the owner of copyright and is not entitled to the rights copyright provides. These situations are described below in Tips two through five.

Tip 2: Commissioned Works
If a work is commissioned, the copyright might belong to the person who is commissioning the work - and not the person creating the work. An example of this would be a bride and groom who commission a photographer to shoot their wedding. If the photographer held the rights to the photographs, then the wedding couple would not have the right to reproduce their photos. However, since the rights to the photos actually belong to the commissioning couple, they can make as many copies as they please to send to their friends and family.

Tip 3: Course of Employment
Another example where the copyright might not belong to the creator is with works created in the course of employment. For instance, if copy was written for an advertisement during the course of employment at an advertising firm, the person who wrote the copy would not own the copyright because it was written while performing their contract to the company. In other words, if the work was created under a “contract of service” as part of the terms of employment, the employee probably owns the copyright.

Tip 4: Transferring of Copyrights
In some situations, the owner of the copyright might actually choose to transfer the rights to another party through a contract. For example, a musician might transfer their rights to a song to a record label in return for a portion of the revenue earned for each copy sold.

Tip 5: Check the Contract
In many cases there will be a contract involving the creation. Always review the fine print to ensure you know who is retaining the rights to the copyright.

In all cases where copyright is concerned, it’s important to understand who the owner of the work is to determine who holds the rights to reproduce the work.

Disclaimer
The above information is meant as a general guide to further your copyright knowledge and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your specific work, you should consult a copyright lawyer in your country.

Justine Shoolman is a Founder of Copyright Creators (CC), a service inspired by the shortfalls of “poor man’s copyright”. CC protects copyright for life with no membership fees. Visit CC today to receive 4 free registrations.

[tags]who owns copyright, protect copyright, copyright ownership, musicians, writers[/tags]

There is often confusion on whether one has a copyright in a work, or whether they should get a patent for protection.

In this article, you will finally come away with a clear understanding on the difference between these two types of intellectual property.

The Rights Afforded by Copyright Protection:

Copyright protects the expression of literary and artistic work. When a person creates an original work, and have put it in a fixed form, they automatically own the copyright to that work. What this means is the person owns the rights to: reproduce the work, perform the work, record the work, broadcast the work, translate the work, and adapt the work into a different form (i.e. a novel into a screenplay).

Copyright Protects Expressions, Not Ideas:

A common misunderstanding is that copyright protects ideas. Copyright protects the expression of an idea, but not the idea itself. What this means is one hundred people can write an article about copyright. However, we each own the copyright to our specific articles because each one is an original and fixed piece of work.

The Concepts of Originality and Fixation in Copyright:

“Originality” and “fixed” are two important terms in copyright. While the work does not have to be the first of its kind (i.e. this is not the first article ever written about copyright), the expression has to be original (I’m not plagiarizing this article - I have written it myself with original sentence structures and an original flow to the article). As for being ‘fixed’ there is a very good reason for this requirement. For a work to fall under copyright law, it must be in a fixed form - because it would be very difficult to prove what was created if there was no copy of it! A “fixed” form could be something written on paper, recorded onto a CD, recorded on video, or saved on a flash drive.

What Copyright Protects:

Copyright covers a wide variety of artistic works and they are generally characterized as follows:
o Literary Work (novels, poems, computer software source code)
o Artistic/Visual Arts (sculpture, drawing, illustration, graphic design, plans, maps, photographs, architectural work)
o Dramatic Work (films, videos, choreography), Musical (musical composition with or without words)
o Sound Recordings (recordings of music, drama, or lectures)
o Serial & Periodicals (periodicals, newspapers, magazines, bulletins, newsletters, annuals, journals, proceedings of societies)

Patents Protect Inventions:

Patents protect new inventions or useful improvements to existing inventions. Examples are inventions or discoveries of any new and useful process, apparatus, machine, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.

Patents Must Be Obtained:

Unlike copyright which is automatic, a patent must be granted by the government to be valid and can take up to three years with considerable financial investment. If you are going to file for a patent, it is very important you do not disclose your invention to anyone, because it could be grounds to refuse your patent application.

Because there is an application process for patents, a patent granted in one country is not valid in another. As such, you will need to apply separately in each country, or through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Qualifications For Patents:

For an item/process to qualify for a patent, it must generally be:
o new
o useful
o inventive (in other words, it must not be an obvious invention to someone in the field)

Durations of Patents:

Once you successfully hold a patent, you have a limited time (usually around 20 years) where you are the only one who can make this item or use the patented process before it is made public.

Disclaimer
The above information is meant as a general guide to further your copyright and patent knowledge and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your specific work, you should consult an intellectual property lawyer in your country.

Justine Shoolman is a Founder of Copyright Creators (CC), a service inspired by the shortfalls of “poor man’s copyright”. CC protects copyright for life with no membership fees. Visit CC today to receive 4 free registrations.

[tags]protect copyright,how to protect copyright,patent protection,what copyright protects[/tags]

Could copyright get any more complicated? There are so many factors that play into the laws governing each work, and determining the duration of copyright is no exception.

As a general rule for countries who are signatories of the Bern Convention (over 100 countries are members of this convention), the minimum duration of copyright is 50 years after the death of the author. Some countries, however, have chosen to increase this to 70 years after the death of the author.

Although there is a general rule of thumb, copyright duration can depend on any number of factors including: when the work was created, the nature of the work, the number of authors and whether they remained anonymous or used pseudonyms, and the country where the work was created.

In addition, the duration of copyright is usually calculated based on the authors, and not the owners of the copyright. In some cases, the author may sell their work so that someone else owns it. If this is the case, duration is still generally based on the author’s life, and not the owner’s.

Let’s take a look at each a number of factors that can affect the duration of copyright.

When was the Work Created?
In some countries, the date of creation of the work may have a significant impact on the duration of copyright. For instance, in the United States, works created after January 1st 1978 have a different copyright duration than works created before this date. In the U.K, 1996 is a significant date.

What is the Nature of the Work?
A very important variable in determining the duration of copyright is the nature of the work being protected. Is it a literary creation or a musical creation? Is it an artistic work or perhaps a sound creation? Depending on what the work is will change the duration of the copyright protection.
For instance, for cinematographic works, the term may be 50 years after the making of the work. For photographic works, protection is generally 25 years from the making of the work.

How Many Authors Are There?
The general minimum duration of copyright for Berne Convention countries is 50 years after the death of the author. When there are multiple authors, the minimum duration will be 50 years after the passing of the last surviving author.

Are the Authors Anonymous or do they go by Pseudonyms?
The duration can become more complicated when the authors are anonymous or go by pseudonyms. Since we do not know when the author passes for anonymous works, the general rule of duration is 50 years from the date the work was made available to the public.
In the case where the author’s identity is hidden with a pseudonym, the work may be protected for a period of 50 from the first publication, or 75 years from the making of the work (whichever is shorter). If, however, the identity of the author is identified, the regular ‘life + 50′ or ‘life +70′ rule would apply. Each country may have their own duration rules when it comes to Anonymous and Pseudonymous authors. For instance, the U.S. goes by the 95/120 rule where the duration is 95 years after publication or 120 after creation, whichever is shorter.

In What Country was the Work Created?
As discussed above, the nation in which the work was created can dictate differences in copyright duration. As well, according to the Berne convention’s Principal of National Treatment, nations will give nationals of other Berne countries the same treatment as their own nationals. For example, a work created in Canada enjoys the ‘life + 50′ rule for duration. However, in the U.S, they will receive the ‘life + 70′ rule because that is the law dictated in the U.S.

Disclaimer
The above information is meant as a general guide to further your copyright knowledge and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your specific work, you should consult a copyright lawyer in your country.

Justine Shoolman is a Founder of Copyright Creators (CC), a service inspired by the shortfalls of “poor man’s copyright”. CC protects copyright for life with no membership fees. Visit CC today to receive 4 free registrations.

[tags]protect copyright, copyright duration[/tags]

To include the notice, or not to include the notice? A common point of confusion for copyright creators is whether they need to include the copyright notice with their work for copyright protection.

The good news for most creators is you do not need to include a copyright notice with your work to have copyright protection; and by ‘protection’ we mean the rights to produce, reproduce and perform your work.

In general, copyright protection is granted automatically upon the completion of your work in a fixed form. Having said this, there is some fine print one should be aware of, especially for works created in the United States.

Short History of the Copyright Notice:
Under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which concluded in 1886, copyright protection is automatically granted for original works expressed in a fixed form (for example, a format that can be perceived, communicated and reproduced such as on paper, memory key, compact disc, etc.). There are over 100 countries who are signatories of the Berne Convention, all of which are listed on the World Intellectual Property Office’s website. In addition, countries that are a part of the World Trade Organization have to adhere to almost all of the conditions of the Berne Convention.

The beauty of the convention is it harmonizes and sets minimum standards of copyright laws between the member countries. This has greatly reduced the risk for copyright creators when publishing their works internationally, as they will receive similar protection abroad as they would in their own country.

When copyright protection is automatic, as it is for all Berne Convention countries, you are not required to use the copyright notice to protect your work.

Now, the tricky part is for U.S citizens. The United States only joined the Berne Convention on March 1st 1981, which means any works published before this date may still require the copyright notice to protect copyright, unlike works published after March 1st 1989.

Although the Copyright Notice is Not Required, here are 6 Reasons it Can Increase Protection of Copyright:

1. The copyright notice tells the public that the work is protected by copyright law. Without the notice, someone interested in using the work might mistakenly think it is available for use without permission.

2. It helps identify the copyright owner which is handy if anyone needs to contact them regarding the work.

3. It provides the year of publication which can be important in determining the duration of copyright.

4. A copyright notice makes it much harder for an infringer to claim that they did not know the work was copyrighted. If the notice is not present, an infringer could use this reasoning in court and potentially be acquitted of the charges.

5. The notice might act as a deterrent for someone to infringe on the work. If a person knows the work is protected, they might be less likely to use it.

6. It’s easier for someone to make contact to obtain permission to use your work when a copyright notice is present.

As you can see, even though having the copyright notice is not required, it’s definitely a good idea to help protect copyright.

Disclaimer
The above information is meant as a general guide to further your copyright knowledge and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your specific work, you should consult a copyright lawyer in your country.

ustine Shoolman is a Founder of Copyright Creators (CC), a service inspired by the shortfalls of “poor man’s copyright”. CC protects copyright for life with no membership fees. Visit CC today to receive 4 free registrations.

[tags]protect copyright, copyright notice, do i need the copyright notice, copyright symbol[/tags]

The more I speak with people, the more I realize copyright is a topic that is still commonly misunderstood.

This article is intended to clarify some of the major questions about copyright so people can feel comfortable promoting their work to outside parties.

Tip 1: What is Copyright?

It only seems logical to begin this article by describing what copyright really is. In essence, copyright protects original works from being used without permission from the author or owner of the work. The reason for the protection is to encourage creators to continue with their artistic innovations, which positively impacts the economy.

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or owner of the work for a specific period of time. The rights granted by copyright include:
* producing or reproducing the work or any substantial part thereof
* permitting the reproduction of the work or any substantial part thereof
* performing the work or any substantial part thereof
* publishing the work or any substantial part thereof
* translating the work into other languages, or creating an adaption, such as a novel into a screenplay

The significance of these rights is that the owner of the copyright can control who uses their work. As a result, the creative integrity of the work can be maintained as the owner has control over its use.

Tip 2: How do I Attain Copyright Protection?

The beauty about copyright is that it is automatic the moment you put your original work into a fixed (tangible) form. When we refer to a tangible form it means the work has to be on something physical. In other words, if you simply recite your poem to someone, you do not own the copyright. However, if you write the poem on a napkin, or record yourself reciting the poem, you will own the copyright, and the rights that go along with it.

Although copyright is automatic the moment you put your work in a fixed form, it could still be very difficult to prove you are the original creator of the work. As such, it can be a good idea to create legal proof of your ownership through a copyright registry. Many countries run their own registries. There are also registries through various artistic guilds, or even online registries.

Tip 3: What Works are Protected by Copyright?

Different countries may classify their works slightly differently. As a general guide, copyright extends to original creative works. Below are some examples and the classifications of works that can be protected by copyright:

o Literary Works (lyrics, novels, computer software source code, plays, etc.)
o Artistic Works/Visual Works (architectural work, sculptures, drawings, paintings, maps, photographs, etc.)
o Musical Works (musical composition with or without words)
o Dramatic Works (films, videos, choreography)
o Sound Recordings (recordings of music, dramas, lectures, etc. It does not include soundtracks to audio visual works).
o Serials & Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, bulletins, newsletters, journals, periodicals, etc.)

Now that you know what is protected by copyright, let’s take a quick look at what is not protected by copyright.

Copyright protects the expression of a work. The idea of the work itself cannot be protected under copyright law. In other words, one thousand people can write about the concept of copyright, and each of them would hold the copyright to their specific expression about the topic. In addition to ideas, other works not protected by copyright include: concepts, names, titles, slogans, factual information, themes, catch-phrases, methods, governmental documents, etc.

Disclaimer
The above information is meant as a general guide to further your copyright knowledge and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your specific work, you should consult a copyright lawyer in your country.

Justine Shoolman is a Founder of Copyright Creators (CC), a service inspired by the shortfalls of “poor man’s copyright”. CC protects copyright for life with no membership fees. Visit CC today to receive 4 free registrations.

[tags]protect copyright, copyright online, what is copyright, how to copyright[/tags]

I own an independent graphic design company and have been providing design work for local bands and businesses for a few years now; there are only a few of us in this company and we’re not millionaires by any stretch of the imagination but we make enough to get by and the genuine love of our job gets us through it all. However, we’ve spent the last couple of months embroiled in some rather nasty commercial litigation after a larger company stole a piece of our work from the internet and used it in one of their campaigns.

We first noticed it on a social networking site on one of the banner adverts which fill that particular page; it looked familiar, but surely it couldn’t be the same. After downloading and re-sizing it, it became obvious that this was the same design, albeit they’d changed the text which wouldn’t be a lot of work for a vaguely competent graphic designer.

This company has a lot more money behind them than we do, and none of us know the first thing about commercial litigation, but we weren’t going to take this lying down - this company had clearly made a lot of money out of our work, and we weren’t happy about it. While suing them wasn’t the first thought that came to mind - as I say, commercial litigation isn’t our strong point - we felt that we should either see some of that money or at least get some credit for the design, hopefully generating some more business for our company.

We looked into the rest of the campaign they were using to see how much they’d used our work; if it was just the social networking site banners it wouldn’t have been as big a deal as it would have been if they’d used it in print media or in other venues. It turned out that the work was also being used in magazines, flyers and in viral videos, meaning a lot of people were seeing our work and someone else was taking credit for it.

We shut down the office for an afternoon and began to seriously discuss what we were going to do about this. Though we thought about contacting the company directly we didn’t think we’d get very far, so we visited a local solicitor who referred us to a group he deals with sometimes that specialises in commercial litigation.

The solicitor went through everything with us and, once we provided evidence of our work predating theirs, he seemed confident that we had a good chance of winning our case. Though the time spent in court hasn’t been the most pleasant thing we’ve ever done, we feel justified in defending our work and are hopeful that we’ll be able to help stop bigger companies stealing from smaller ones in the future.

Thomas Pretty is the owner of a small graphic design company who recently had their work stolen. Find out more about commercial litigation at http://www.stewartslaw.com/

[tags]Commercial litigation[/tags]

Imagine you are an inspiring film producer with a terrific idea for a major television mini-series or feature film. In order to pitch your product to the studios or an established producer who can arrange financing, you need a script.

After shopping around you find a struggling writer who agrees to write your script for a fee. You pay this writer the agreed upon fee. While you understood that you now own the script, there was never a writing signed by the parties defining the respective rights. The writer then registers the script with the Screen Writers Guild and the issue becomes who owns the copyrights.

The answer to this question depends on when the script was created. If the script was created before 1978 the Copyright Act of 1909 applies. The Copyright Act of 1909 provided that the proprietor of any work copyrighted….by an employer for whom such work is made for hire is entitled to a renewal and extension of the copyright. The 1909 Act did not define the term works made for hire or employer.

Up until around 1965 that federal courts applied the work for hire doctrine only to cases in which a traditional employer-employee relationship existed between the hiring party and the creator of the work. However, during this period the courts expanded the concept to include less traditional relationships, as long as the hiring party that the right to control or supervise the artist work.

In a case entitled Twentieth Century Fox v Entertainment Distributing, Doubleday convinced General Eisenhower in 1947 to write his memoirs about his efforts as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces during World War II. The agreement was prepared with income tax considerations to allow General Eisenhower to obtain long term capital gains by granting an option to purchase his script.

Doubleday granted various rights to Fox who later sued a company called Dastar for copyright infringement. The issue was whether General Eisenhower wrote his memoirs under a work for hire. The court stated that when on person engages another, whether as employee or independent contractor, to produce a work of an artistic nature, that in the absence of an express contractual reservation of the copyright in the artist, the presumption arises that the mutual intent of the parties is that the title to the copyright shall be in the person at whose instance and expense the work is done.

The Copyright Act of 1976 embodies a clear break with prior doctrine of work for hire. The Copyright Act of 1976 states the copyright vests initially with the author. The Act defines a work for hire as work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment, or if the work fits into one of nine categories and there is a writing signed by the parties that the work is a work for hire.

In order to determine if the there was a traditional employer-employee relationship common law principles apply under what was referred to as a master-servant relationship. The courts consider the extent of control the master exerts over the details of the work, whether the one employed is engaged in a distinct occupation or business, the skill required, whether tools are supplied by the master, the length of time the for which the person was employed, the method of payment including the withholding for taxes and the payment of payroll taxes.

If there the relationship does not fit into the traditional employment relationship, the work is specially commissioned by what is considered an independent contractor. In that situation, one must see if the commissioned work fits into any of the nine enumerated categories and there must be a writing indicating the parties intent the work is a work for hire.

Robert G. Klein, Esq. is a Los Angeles business litigation attorney whose emphasis is in trademark infringement litigation, unfair competition lawsuits, trade secret litigation, and business disputes. Visit our web site http://www.kleinligitation.com or call him at 213.996.8508

[tags]copyright[/tags]

Private label rights are by far one of the best things out there in the world of online marketing. Changing the material, making it uniquely yours and not be liable for any copyright infringement, are great for creating a brand for your business.

If you haven’t heard of private label rights, then most likely you’d think they were pulling your leg. But all the above are true if you are able secure these rights.

But what are private label rights? Would you believe a person if they told you that it was possible to take another person’s work, change it anyway you please and call the edited material yours?

What if that person also told you that besides being able to do so, you could actually profit from that work and not be liable for any copyright infringement?

To understand why private label rights are so special, you need to know about resale and master resale first.

Resale rights are simply permission from the owner of a work (a book, for example) to allow you to take the said material and distribute it for your own profit.

Master resale rights take it a step further and allow you to sell the resale rights to the work. The reason why it is called master resale rights is because it covers a large set of permissible actions to the person who acquires those rights.

Experts would tell you that to get the most of your purchasing of master resale rights, the following list of actions should allow you to:
1. give the material away unaltered
2. combine the material with others
3. give the material away as a bonus item
4. use the material a content for websites
5. divide the product into separate articles
6. put the rights for the material or the material itself up for auction
7. provide the material as content for paid membership sites
8. sell resale rights for the material
9. change or alter the material

Buying the whole set of these rights are great but it can cost you. But there is a way to get almost all of these actions and not have to pay as much for master resale rights IF you acquire just the right to change or alter the material, which is exactly what private label rights are.

With these set of rights, you are given permission to change another person’s work. By altering the material, you have made the work your own which then allows you to profit from the material anyway you intend to.

Let’s say you were able to acquire private label rights for a particular ebook. What can you do?

For starters, you can break up the book into separate chapters and then sell these as articles. On the other hand, if you were able to acquire private label rights for a set of articles, you could combine them and package it as a book, which you then can sell.

You can change the material’s content by adding or removing details. You can also add pictures or illustrations as well as other media like sound or video clips.

All of these actions are possible but the best part about private label rights is that you are not obligated to mention the original author (or pay them any royalties) for the changes you have done to his or her material. You can claim the material as yours by putting your name as the author of the material.
With these changes, the ways on capitalizing on them are many.

You can come up with a whole new set of products from a single material source. Take an ebook for example. On one hand, you’ve broken up the book to sell them as articles. On the other, you’ve enhanced the book’s content with media to package it as your own work and putting it up for sale on the market.

Acquiring private label rights are great for creating a brand for your business. As you may already know, one of the keys to a successful business is to distinguish yourself from the rest. With private label rights, you can change the material and make it uniquely yours. If your target market likes your material, your market can perceive you as an expert in your line of business, which is something you can really capitalize on as you sell your products or services.

However, it is not only the person who acquires private label rights who stands to benefit from it. It may be difficult to understand at first, but selling private label rights benefits even the original creator.

With the increasing demand for original material to be sold with private label rights, a writer can make good money from his or her work. The incentive is that he or she can command a higher price for the work given the rights that go with the material.

Furthermore, selling the right to change the material any way the buyer wants is actually giving new life to the material. By giving the buyer the freedom to change the content in a number of creative ways, the material’s usability sand relevance is extended.

By compensating the original content creator well; by allowing freedom and flexibility for the purchaser; and by giving the end user a wealth of very useful information, private label rights are by far one of the best things out there in the world of online marketing.

Andre Niemand is a dentist,with a love for marketing, especially the latest unique strategies.Find out how you can easily choose the right internet business training program at http://www.4moneymaking.com and put your business on autopilot at http://www.4topmoney.com

[tags]private label rights,master resale rights,online marketing[/tags]

Recently, there have been a number of cases involving sound effects companies that are offering “free” sound effects as an enticement for people to sign up for their free accounts. Often times this is in order to harvest email addresses and names for marketing purposes or to sell lists to other marketing companies. The problem is that some of these sites are using copyrighted materials illegally. When companies do this they are not only neglecting their customer’s rights to privacy, but also placing them in potentially precarious legal dangers from the rightful copyright owners.

The issue has often risen from people who are either tired of buying sound effects legally, or who just don’t understand the legal implications and then post blogs on the web, solicit their friends and colleagues, and get people to search their computers for sound effects and then upload them to their newly developed, free sound effects site. Their intentions may be perfectly innocent, giving producers access to a wide variety of sound fx in one centralized location, but the real problem is that most of these uploaded sound effects are copyrighted and subject to the same copyright protections as music, movies and everything else.

There have been cases where people download sounds from these free sites to use in jobs for their paying clientele. Only later to get embarrassing and potentially career ending complaints, letters and law suits from their clients, who in turn have recently been contacted by the copyright owner’s attorney for copyright infringement. Not only can this devastating affair make you and your company look unprofessional, it is highly irresponsible as well. Nobody wants to be reflected poorly in professional circles, and in the highly sensitive environment of copyright law and the legal issues surrounding digital media, companies are coming down harder and people are treading lighter than ever before.

This is why it is important to make sure that the sound effects you are using have been obtained legally and with the appropriate licenses. There are many sites out there that offer sound effects legally. Some of these sites are free, others will charge a nominal fee, and still others may create sounds specifically for you that are licensed only to you. It is true that most of the time if you want a really high quality sound effect you will most likely have to pay for it, but the fee is usually small, ranging anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars, and more often that not it is completely worth it!

If you do want something custom built for you, you will probably pay more for it, but this sound will be licensed only to you and your production and will most likely never be available to the general public, unless releasing it was part of your sound effects/Foley creation agreement or if some one steals it and publishes it illegally.

Your best option is to play it safe. Most of the time the sounds you acquire from legitimate sources will be much higher quality anyway and will thus make your production sound much sweeter!

Adam Benson is the CEO and head engineer of Sleep Deprived Productions. SDP specializes in Video and Audio Effects and Post-Production. To learn more check them out at
http://www.sleepdeprivedproductions.com

[tags]sound effects, foley, legal, free sound fx, copyright infringement, stolen media, legal sound fx[/tags]