Copyright for Musicians: Part 2

Under the U.S. copyright system, you need to get a copyright registration to make sure your copyright is protected.  Copyright registration creates a public record of your copyright ownership and your contact information.  This is important, because it ensures that someone who needs to pay you a compulsory license, or ask your permission to use your musical composition or sound recording, can find you.

Also, if someone infringes your copyright, you aren’t allowed to sue him in court unless you have a copyright registration.  Even if you can’t afford a court case, it is important to be able to say to an infringer that you already have a registration.  This tells them that you have the legal ability to enforce your rights, and that makes him take you seriously.  In most cases, it is the possibility of a lawsuit, rather than actual litigation, that gives you bargaining power.  (Most infringement matters settle without a lawsuit.  Even if a suit is filed, 90% of them settle before trial.)

It is also important to register your copyright as soon as possible.  You must have filed for copyright registration before the infringement occurs, or within 3 months after your composition or sound recording was distributed to the public, in order to have the full scope of copyright protection.  Full protection for such early registration gives you the right to two important remedies: the right to recover your attorneys’ fees when you win a lawsuit, and the right to an award of statutory damages.  Statutory damages means that the court can determine an amount of money to be awarded even if you cannot prove actual damages or the infringer’s profits.  Actual damages means you lost a specific amount of money because of the infringement.  Infringer’s profits means the amount of money the infringer made from selling or distributing your work.  These types of damages can be hard to prove.

When people receive a letter stating an infringement claim, their first step is to determine whether you have the full protection of a copyright registration.  If you do, they know that you are entitled to sue them for statutory damages and your attorneys’ fees.  This means that you may be able to get an attorney to take your case, and that they are more likely to be liable for a sizable sum.  So when you tell them to stop the infringement, or pay you a settlement fee, you are more likely to get their cooperation.

Under the old copyright law, a copyright notice was required to protect a work once it was published.  This is no longer true.  However, including a copyright notice on your work is a very good idea.  Copyright notice lets others know that your work is copyrighted, and it prevents an infringer from arguing that he believed the work was in the public domain (“public domain” means not protected by copyright).  Many people think that anything posted online is in the public domain, but that is not correct.

Copyright notice may also be the best way to discourage unauthorized copying in the first place.  Nevertheless, copyright notice does not give you the right to sue for infringement, or much bargaining power to stop infringement.  You still need a registration to enforce your rights.

The standard form for a copyright notice is “ © 2008 [your name].  All Rights Reserved.”

Read on to find out How to Register: A Step-by-Step Tutorial >