copyright free music – …Read More

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User Question About {Keyword} :
I need to find educational music (a song, specifically) for use in a project.

I have tried using the creative commons search engine, but I am unable to find music that does not eventually turn out to be copyrighted – I need to create a derivative work.

Perhaps this is because I don’t know what to look for. Could you please recommend tips for finding copyright free music, or in checking if music has copyright attached to it (which apparently it does automatically unless stated otherwise)?

Thanks.

Youtube

Where do you find yours? Background music: Kevin MacLeod www.incompetech.com
Copyright-Free Music?

music copyright laws – This publication is a desktop practice guide for litigators, handily sized for portability. Featuring practical, detailed guidance from an experienced federal trial lawyer, it walks attorneys step-by-step from the moment a prospective client calls, through the calculation of costs and attorneys fees. It is packed with sample forms, pleadings, motions, checklists, and practice tips; and includes up-to-date citations. The Appendix includes the full text of 3 essential documents for the copyright l…Read More

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Youtube

Warner Music Group (WMG), YouTube, Copyright Laws and the Nettizens. Another rant

Discuss About {Keyword} :
I work for a public University and we are making a fundraising video to send via email to our alumni (less than 9,000 people). As we are picking out music to play in the background of the video, can we just use any MP3 or do we need to be careful of copyright infringement. I’m not sure about the usage laws. Thank you!

If you’re of the creative type, it’s quite likely you’ve made something you’d like to protect from others. Whether it’s the creation of a novel, a new fabric softener or you’re trying to launch a new business that will have its own unique brand, hiring an attorney to help may be in order. Since copyright, patent, trademark attorney choices can be many, it’s a good idea to know what you’re looking for in advance.

Before you get started looking for an attorney, it’s a good idea to understand the differences between a copyright, patent and trademark. They are quite distinct and a single attorney may not in fact handle all three, but some might or at least their firms will.

A copyright is something that’s meant to protect a piece of “intellectual property” from theft or plagiarism. The end product can be a written work, an image, a movie, television show or even song. Copyrights are desirable to have on most property that is created for financial gain or even personal enjoyment since others may decide to “borrow” the idea and cash in on it for themselves. Some sources will say a copyright can simply be claimed, but in the case of extensive works such as novels or movies, it’s a good idea to seek legal advice to ensure the copyright will hold up in court. For items such as movies there are even locations to file scripts on record to prove the origins.

A patent generally is issued for a product. The patent can cover ingredients, design, manufacturing secrets and more. In general those who seek a patent have created a new product or concept for one and they want to protect it from idea thieves. By holding the patent a private inventor can even protect him or herself from theft while marketing the idea to companies for manufacture. Since this tends to involve complicated government paperwork, legal advice is always a good idea when seeking a patent.

Trademarking is generally given to a specific brand name. Food companies, toy makers, computer manufacturers and a whole host of others tend to have trademarks on their official name and the products within their lines. Here, too, legal advice is smart to ensure the process is completed correctly and work created or names dreamed up are protected from others who may choose to use them.

When looking for a good attorney to handle any of these types of circumstances, it’s a good idea to go with one that knows the field. Check credentials and be certain the area of expertise matches your needs. If you’re unsure who to hire, check with your state or local bar association for recommendations of lawyers who handle patent, copyright and trademark clients. Although they won’t be able to tell you specifics about a particular attorney, they can tell you if the people are in good standing with them and if they’ve ever had any complaints filed.

Hiring a lawyer is a big deal, but when it comes to protecting ideas, works and brand names, it just makes sense to ensure the paperwork is handled correctly.

Lets start with copyright infringement.

It is easily explained as copying someone else’s work without
gaining permission first. This includes publishing other peoples
work to your web site, newspaper, magazine or even just
downloading it to your computer can be seen as copyright
infringement. The last is known as a grey area.

Other peoples work means anything created by a person. It can be
written content, graphical content, musical content or even
html, JavaScript, PHP, CGI, patterns, textures, animations. It
is anything tangible that’s created by a person. NOTE: A idea
cannot be copyrighted due to the fact it is not tangible.

Example….

I have just finished reading a book on how to service my car.
The author of the book explains in detail the different ways a
person can go about the job. He also details tips and tricks he
has learnt over the years that speed up the servicing.

Now after putting into practice what the author wrote I could go
and write my own book on how to service my car, right?

Right!

Why? Well the author can only copyright the content of his book
(words, pictures… etc) he cannot copyright the practice or
idea there in. This can be viewed in many different ways so if
your unsure it is always best to at least email the author
before taking any action with there material.

The short and sweet way of looking at this is your content no
matter what creative medium it falls under is automatically
copyrighted to you for the duration of your life. It can only be
broken if you decide to give your content away for free (you
must state that it is copyright free material) or you die and
nobody registers for the copyright to your material.

This leads us to Public Domain material…..

Before 1978 copyright only lasted 27 seven years. These days it
lasts the duration of the creators life. Therefor from the
minute you create your work it is automatically copyrighted to
you. It is still important to state this wherever you decide to
publish your material.

Public Domain material has no copyright and can be used in
anyway you see fit. Also unless you change it in someway it is
still Public Domain. So if you find a book that is in the Public
Domain and you start selling it on EBay, there is nothing
stopping the people who buy it from selling it themselves.
That’s why it is important to change the material. Add something
to it so it stands out or modernize the language so people can
understand the material better. Any changes copyright the “new”
book to you.

Anything published before 1928 falls under Public Domain. That
is of course unless someone got there first and changed the
material in some way. You have to watch out for that. It could
get you into trouble.

That’s the basics. For a more detailed insight into copyright go
to GOV.

Also depending on your country things maybe different so make
sure you know where you stand.

Personal Note……

Copyrighting your work is a good thing. You are the sole owner
of what you create and so you should be. There is a problem here
though. Once your material is published to the web, book,
magazine or even TV your leaving your material open to abuse.

This could be viewed as unfortunate but truthfully if it wasn’t
for copying other peoples HTML code I would have never learned
HTML. It was the same for Java Script and Graphic Design. Even
writing and game creation were learnt from copying others first.

It is also well known that internet marketers keep something
called a Swipe File on there computer. This is where they paste
items of interest they find on the web. It is a digital
scrapbook basically.

People learn by first copying and then creating. It is the
natural order of life to copy others. So if you want to be
strict about your copyright that’s fine. Just remember how you
learnt what you know before you draw a line in the sand:

Copyright information is generally available on every single product that exists. In fact, if a product is not copyrighted, many of us feel wary about using it as we doubt its safety and quality. This is exactly why we should all respect the sanctity of copyright laws and preserve that very sanctity by refusing to buy or share pirated products and materials. Copyright protection is something that will only come about when all of us realise the full weight of the consequences of piracy and begin to act in a more responsible manner.  In short, we all need to hold ourselves accountable for our actions and insure that copyright information is disseminated to the public so that copyright infringement becomes a thing of the past. 

The New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft, or NZFACT, is an organisation that is committed to ensuring and protecting the rights of the New Zealand film and television industry, retailers, and movie fans. Copyright infringement has a wide number of manifestations and is something that applies to a vast number of scenarios. NZFACT has several members which include, but are not limited to:

Village Roadshow Limited

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, New Zealand

Paramount Pictures Corporation

Sony Pictures Releasing International Corporation

Twentieth Century Fox International Corporation

Universal International Films, Inc

Warner Bros. Pictures International, a division of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.

NZFACT works with enforcement agencies and government officials to ensure the copyright infringement and piracy of any kind do not take place in New Zealand. Tony Eaton, a former police prosecutor in the New Zealand Courts, is the Executive Director of NZFACT. For more information about issues such as copyright infringement laws and regulations, legal penalties for copyright infringement and piracy, how to contribute towards the upkeep of copyright laws and regulations, how to ensure that you protect yourself and/or your corporation from potential litigation, please visit http://www.nzfact.co.nz.

LEGISLATION

The Indian law of patents is enshrined in the Patents Act, 1970. The Act seeks to provide for legal protection for inventions. The rights granted under the Act, are operative in the whole of India.

OBJECT

The object of the patent law is to provides a statutory right to owner of the patent for a certain period of time and disclose invention to use it and practice that invention and make it work thus encourage scientific research and new technology, stimulate new inventions of commercial utility and pass invention into public domain after the expiry of the fixed period of the monopoly.

PRIORITY CLAIMS

India is one of the countries party to the Paris Convention so the right of priority are applicable. The applicant may within the six months apply for protection.

WHAT IS A PATENT

A Patent is an exclusive monopoly granted to an inventor over his invention for a limited period of time. It provides an enforceable legal right to prevent others from exploiting an invention.

RIGHTS CONFERRED BY REGISTRATION

Patent represents one of the powerful intellectual property rights. The registration of a patent confers on the patentee the exclusive right to use, manufacture or sell his invention for the term of the patent. It means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patentee’s consent. The patent rights can usually be enforced in a court of law.

WHO CAN APPLY

Any person claming to be the true and first inventor of the invention;

Any person being the assignee of the person claming to be the true and first inventor in respect of the right to make such an application;

Any legal representative of any deceased person who immediately before his death was entitled to make such application Patent Search;

It is prudent to conduct searches as early as possible to avoid spending time and money re-inventing a known matter. A patent is not granted to an invention if it is already available with the public either in the form of published literature or common knowledge.

PATENTABLE INVENTIONS

To be patentable, an invention must, in general, satisfy certain criteria. The invention must be of industrial applicability, must be new and must show an inventive step which could not be deduced by a person reasonably skilled in the field. Above all, its subject matter must be accepted as “patentable” under law. As for example, Inventions which are frivolous or claim anything contrary to well established natural laws are not patentable. There are also other specific categories of inventions which are declared as non-patentable.

PATENT SPECIFICATION

The process of patenting typically involves conducting prior art searches to distinguish the invention and develop a description that illustrates the best method of working the invention. The description of the invention is called specification. Depending upon the sufficiency of the description a specification may be either provisional or complete Specification.

PROVISIONAL AND COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

A provisional specification is often the first application filed in respect of an invention, and usually contains only a brief description of the invention. It need not contain claims. Compared with the provisional, the complete specification contains the full description of the invention, and the best method of making the invention work. The complete specification comprises a title, field of invention, the background of the invention, the description of the related art, drawbacks of the prior art, the summary of the invention, the brief description of the figures, the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, claims and abstract. Complete specification must be filed within 12 months from the date of filing of the provisional specification.

Claims are the most important component in the patent specification as it is the legal operative part which define and determine the legal protection sought for. The extent of patent protection for an invention shall be determined by the terms of the claims. The description and the appended drawings may be used to interpret the claims.

FILING AND PROSECUTING PATENT APPLICATIONS

The procedure for the grant of a patent starts with filing of the patent application along with the prescribed fees at the patent office followed by filing of request for examination in the prescribed format, after the publication of the application. The applications are examined substantively and a first examination report stating the objections is communicated to the applicant. Application may be amended in order to meet the objections. If the applicant does not comply with the objection, the application will be abandoned. After complying off the requirements the application is published in the Official Journal. At that time, opposition can be filed on limited grounds, but hearing is not mandatory. Patent will be granted if the application is found to be in order. Then, the application and other related documents will be open for public inspection. Thereafter, at any time after the grant but before the expiry of a period of one year from the date of publication opposition on substantive grounds is available. The whole process typically takes at least two years.

DURATION OF A PATENT

The tenure for patents is 20 years from the date of filing of the application for the patent before the patent office. It is the responsibility of the patentee to maintain an issued patent by paying the annuities until the patent expires. After 20 years term the invention claimed in the patent falls into the public domain.

RESTORATION

Restoration of a patent that lapses due to non-payment of renewal fees can be made within one year of lapse. However, certain limitations will be imposed on the rights of the patentee when the patent is restored.

LIST OF INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR PATENT REGISTRATION

1. Name address of the applicant.

2. Complete Specification.

3. Drawing.

4. Request.

5. Abstract.

6. Power of Attorney.

7. Priority documents (if any).

There is no international or world patent. An inventor has to file an application in each country, where he seeks to protect his invention. However, there are regional and/or International treaties to facilitate the procedure to seek protection like Patent co-operation Treaty (PCT) or European Patent Convention (EPC).

Saket Agarwal

Agarwal & Co.

Trademarks, Patent Attorneys

73, Ajanta Apartment, 36, I.P. Extension

New Delhi – 110092 (INDIA)

+91-11-22732540; +91-9810176867

Let me say straight off the high hat that creativity & copyright law do not make instant bedfellows! Within beat rap there is a tendency to sample, which is both quick & easy, versus “copyright ownership” highly focused on what may constitute theft. The discussion can veer between litigation on the one hand and ignorance on the other. The basic problem is how to objectively measure how much of the remixed song “borrows” from the original.

One of the current stumbling blocks to licensing copyright (and thus incentive to copy without paying) is administrative overhead and cost. Recording licenses can be obtained at a flat fee normally ranging from 0 to over ,000. This is countered by royalties to recording owners of between 0.5 cents and 3 cents per track sold. 15% of the original new work’s musical composition copyright might be assigned to the original author, and if extensive looping and reuse is employed, up to 66% may be allocated.

Non paying sampling artists have two current defense strategies that they can deploy: de minimis and fair use. De minimis is the most commonly used defense as it claims that the re-use is basically trivial and therefore does not amount to infringement. The definition of “trivial use” is normally very vague and courts can resort to using ordinary lay listeners in an attempt to untangle the issue! Fair use on the other hand can employ open parody using the justification of “social purpose” based on intended criticism or commentary.

If you really want to circumnavigate the whole copyright issue and can read music AND you are feeling the funk then Public Domain Music may be worth a look. Who knows, maybe you get an IDEA from this? Any composition (not sound recording) copyrighted before 1922 in the USA may be used without limitation. Unfortunately there is no “international copyright” so you will have to delve into your local copyright laws if outside the US.

All of this of course distracts from the intended aim of being creative. Admittedly legality only really gets in the way of creativity when enough money is involved! If you sample Pink Floyd and then distribute it widely then the chances of litigation go up. Everything should be based on an idea (the thing that makes you go) in the first place. If you add sounds later that alter your original framework or concept then that’s just the way things go!

http://www.beat-making.info

SC Stays Ban on Lafarge Mining:

The supreme Court declined to lift the Ban on Limestone mining by French Cement major Lafrage in the Ecological Sensitivity, Meghalaya forests. The Limestone mined in the meant for Lafrage’s cement plant in Bangladesh. Refusing to remove its stay order on Lafrage’s Mining activities, a forest Bench headed by Chief Justice of INDIA K.G. Balakrishnan siad, ” Till the tme necessary reports are Submited by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, we are not inclined to accept the report of MOEF and permit the mining”. Earlier MOEF had submited an affidavit stating that it had given forest and environment clearance with the rider that Lafrage must carry on certain measures for the welfare of the People, mostly tribals, by depositing Rs.100 Crore in a special Purpose Vehicle.

Take Norms Eased:

The RBI made it Easier for securisation or Reconstruction companies to effect Change in or take over the management of the Business of a Borrower to help them realise Dues The Central Bank said tat Changing or taking over the Borrower should be done by the SC / Rc only after the proposal of examined by an independent Advisory committee of Profesionals having a technical, finanace and Legal Background.

Draft Copyrigt Billing:

The Unio Government introduced the copyright Amendment Bill, 2010, in the Rajya Sabha that sought to amend the Copyright Act, 1957. The Bill, the most comprehensive attempt to amend the 1957 Act, would have far-reaching implications for the music and the film industry, as it sought to give independent rights to lyricists, composers and the singers as the authors of literary and musical works in Films. ONce the Bill is enacted, authors, especially lyrisctics, wil get royalaties and other Benifits from the commericial Exploitation of their work. Under the present Copyright regime, the right to receive royalty was vested with the Music Firms and Producers.

Soul Legend Johnnie Gee

Singer, Songwriter. Johnnie Gee was born September 29, 1958, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to an African-American working-class family. He was the 3rd of seven children. (Sisters: Jean “Jackie”, Ida and “Juanita”, (Brothers: Dewitt, and Jerome. Johnnie began his musical career at the age of 6 as the drummer and later became the lead singer of the Step By Step band who formed in 1969.  .

His father, D.W Gee, served the in U.S Army and fought in Korean War. As a Journeyman Steamfitter D.W Gee was one of the first black welders to work for Wisconsin Electric Company. Being a kid at heart and a playful child at age 9, Johnnie Gee was struck by a car while trying to cross the streets close to his home, after finding out the person who hit him was a jeweler, Johnnie Gee asked his parents to buy him Drums and other musical equipment with his share of the settlement he received.  Believing his sons had talent, Mr. Gee molded them into a musical group in the Mid 70s. The Gee Family performers consisted of Lil Johnnie Gee, Dewitt, Jerome, and a few neighborhood friends who joined the band, In these early years the Step By Step Band consisted of 12 members, Johnnie Gee, Jerome Gee, Dewitt Gee, Ronald Purfoy, Greg McDonald, Greg Emmerson, Delaney Henderson, Michael Brown, Lee Hicks, Steve Barry, Jeff McCledon, Chester LeBron, and Raymond Jones.  Johnnie Gee started out on Drums and later emerged as the group’s lead vocalist. He showed remarkable range and depth for such a young performer, impressing audiences with his ability to convey complex emotions with a perfect vocal pitch.

In 1972 after many rehearsals and tightening up their musical skills Johnnie Gee decided to name the group “The Exclusive Step By Step Band”, behind the scenes, Mr. Gee pushed his sons to succeed, Johnnie and his brothers spent endless hours rehearsing and polishing up their act. At first, “Step By Step” band played local gigs and built a strong following. They recorded one single on their own; “Time After Time” with the b-side “She’s Gone,” both songs generated a lot of interest around the country and played on popular radio stations.

The Step By Step band moved on to working an opening act for such R&B artists as Ray Goodman & Brown, The Stylistics, The Chi-lites, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Blue Magic, The Bloodstones, James Brown, and Sam and Dave. Many of these performers were signed to the legendary Brunswick, Platinum and other major record labels back in the 70’s, and it has been reported that Tim Butler may have been the one to tell Brunswick Records founder Nat Tarnopol about the Step By Step Band. Impressed by the group, Tarnopol signed them to his label in 1975.

Traveling back and forth to Chicago, IL, Johnnie and his brothers started work on their music and dancing with their mother (Elgie Gee) and father as their managers. In August 1975, the Step By Step Band was introduced to the music industry at a special event, and later served as the opening act for the Moments. Their first album, I Always Wanted to Be in the Band, hit the charts in December of that year. It’s first single; “Cash Money” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1976.

For several years, the Step By Step maintained a busy tour and recording schedule, under the supervision of Ms. Gee and Brunswick Records staff. Benny Clark, Johnnie Gee and Timothy Butler wrote some of the songs recorded by the group and by Johnnie Gee as a solo artist. The group became so popular that they purchased their own tour bus. By any measurement, Step By Step Band must be considered one of the most important Soul Music groups of the past 30 years. Originally a regionally popular group in the Midwest the group was together for a three years before getting a contract with Brunswick Records.

Step By Step remained with Brunswick Records until 1976, wanting more artistic freedom they felt they had to move on and work with several labels. The group name Step By Step Band had to be changed as it was owned by the Gee family, so each member reverted to solo careers. Dewitt (Boogie ‘D’) Gee went on to play with the famous Parliament/Funkadelic. Johnnie Gee had a number of popular records, in total made 5 singles between the years of 1976 and 1989.

In 1979 Johnnie Gee enlisted in Uncle Sam’s Army, US Armed Forces for 3 ½ years and completed his tour with an Honorable Discharge. Johnnie Gee didn’t waste anytime getting right back in the music saddle and recorded for several top bands and studios in

Milwaukee, Johnnie Gee teamed up with the popular Trumpet player Benny Emmerson who worked with the famous “Luther Allison Band”, Benny recorded such famous hits with the Luther Allison Band like: (K.T) and several other songs that are still popular today with blues music collectors.

Step By Step remained with Brunswick Records until 1976, wanting more artistic freedom they felt they had to move on and work with several labels. The group name Step By Step Band had to be changed as it was owned by the Gee family, so each member reverted to solo careers. Dewitt (Boogie ‘D’) Gee went on to play with the famous Parliament/Funkadelic. Johnnie Gee had a number of popular records, in total made 5 singles between the years of 1976 and 1989.

In 1979 Johnnie Gee enlisted in Uncle Sam’s Army, US Armed Forces for 3 ½ years and completed his tour with an Honorable Discharge. Johnnie Gee didn’t waste anytime getting right back in the music saddle and recorded for several top bands and studios in

Milwaukee, Johnnie Gee teamed up with the popular Trumpet player Benny Emmerson who worked with the famous “Luther Allison Band”, Benny recorded such famous hits with the Luther Allison Band like: (K.T) and several other songs that are still popular today with blues music collectors.

In 1982 Johnnie Gee, “fresh out the Army” started his own record label/production company “Sidetraxx Records” & Entertainment. The label produced 4 popular singles, breaking yet again more records with such celebrities like:, “Jr. Mafia” (Notorious B.I.G) clique, “Chic Delvic”, “Bizzy Bone”and Gansta Nip, and went on to sell over 550 thousand copies worldwide. Johnnie Gee has worked with the best producers, using the latest technology and special studio effects for the popular LP ‘Redemption’ recorded by the Universal Artist (Double R) and Bizzy Bone.  After 41 years of experience in all aspects of music, and being a complete entertainer, Johnnie Gee today controls all of his Publishing, Licensing, Distributing and copyrights.

In 2007 Paul Tarnopol, the son of the late Nat Tarnopol inked a deal with Sidetraxx Records/Johnnie Gee to continue and preserve the legacy of music and experiences Johnnie Gee earned over his 40 years as a professional recording artist.

2007 Press Release: (Sidetraxx Records/Johnnie Gee)

M2K To Distribute Sidetraxx Records May 16, 2007: Milwaukee based Sidetraxx Records inks deal with M2K for worldwide digital distribution. According to Sidetraxx president Johnnie Gee, Sidetraxx will be using the arrangement with M2K to develop and introduce new mid-west labels and recording artists. Prior to Sidetraxx Records, Johnnie Gee was one of the founding members of the group “Step by Step,” which recorded for the famous Brunswick Records, Platinum Records and Cuca Records.

Johnnie Gee will be 50 years old September 29th 2009, with 15 classics Northern Soul songs in his music catalog, Gee continues the music journey in 2009 with several professional labels and companies that provide services for indie and major artists today. Sidetraxx Records, Giasia Records, XXtremee Distribution, GE COM Music Publishing, and STDC Digital are just some the businesses Johnnie Gee attends to on a daily basis. To know music and have the skills Johnnie Gee has developed at age 50, is rare and hard to come by these days. If you are an artist, musician, label, manager or a music consultant, make sure you find someone with the experience and background like Johnnie Gee to lead your career, after 40 years Johnnie Gee is still strongly connected with most major labels, and shops Indie artist all the time.

Long time friend “Marshall Thompson” leader of The Chi-Lites and Johnnie Gee has partnered together to seek out new talent for the 2010 rosters at Sidetraxx and, Mer’ance Records, after the death of Johnnie Gee’s long time friend the “King Of Pop” Michael Jackson, his father Joe Jackson and Marshall Thompson started a record label, they also received some bad press, saying how bad of a father Joe was to Michael, and Marshall Thompson was being sought for fraud. In the defense of his long time friends, Johnnie Gee say’s “I have known both gentlemen for over 35 years now; and I have only the up most respect for their skills, friendship, and legacy.  These two gentlemen were key to my grooming and the success of becoming a popular artist, I had to do my best as well for my parents, spankings, switches, and being strict was key to being successful in the business back then, in fact more children who came up in the 60’s and 70’s had a simular kind of upbringing. So looking back to the 60’s and 70’s, compared to kids and success today, Johnnie Gee say’s strong backing made humble experienced artist, songwriter and musician he has become today, it took that kind of push from Mom, Dad and friends like Joe and Marshall to make a child successful.

Find out more about The Soul Legend Johnnie Gee on Myspace: www.myspace.com/johnniegee

Getting copyright for your own original work is something that is advised under the law, particularly if there is something about your work that makes it likely to be either copied or used for any purpose against your will. Being the creator of a piece of work is something that can provide both financial riches and personal kudos. If, however, you have not copyrighted this work, you will have problems trying to prove ownership further down the line.

Of course, copyrighting your work will cost money. This is all very well and good if you are a successful artist who has been selling their pieces for some time and has the money in the bank to pay copyright fees. The expense is not huge – especially when compared with some other legal services – but it still brings into the matter a question of whether copyright law discriminates against poor, struggling artists. If you happen to have an idea that you imagine may well be lucrative, but not the money to copyright it, then you may feel that you are being unfairly prevented from protecting your idea.

One solution that has been mooted in this situation is the practice known as “Poor Man’s Copyright”. As the name suggests, it is a way of demonstrating that one has taken action to protect their idea, and doing so without having to spend a large amount of money when one cannot reasonably afford to. The practice itself is fairly straightforward and simple, and based in some genuinely clever thinking. The idea is that if you take a copy of the work and send it to yourself through the mail, there will be a date postmarked on the envelope showing when it was sent. If someone then tries to copy your work or pass a version of it off as their own you have a way of showing that you had the idea first and took steps to protect it.

The fact is, however, that Poor Man’s Copyright is not legally binding. No provision is made in US copyright law regarding such protection, so people responsible for original work are still required to put it through the process of applying for copyright if they want total, full copyright protection. This is not an advantageous situation for anyone who has an idea while down on their luck financially.

However, it is still worth going through the process of sending the work to yourself. It can be used as evidence where there is reasonable doubt, and more importantly it can be a way of providing notice to any potential plagiarist that you are mindful of people trying to steal your ideas. In any potential case where you may sue for plagiarism, it is always desirable to be as fully armed as possible for any legal battle. After all, it is potentially a question of substantial, repeated future earnings and you want to put your foot down to protect those.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.