Originally Posted By: av84fun

Most publishers overlook such copyright violations only because there are so many of them, they can't possibly take actions against the violators. However, they can and DO take X number of actions every year to "make examples" out of the violators.


How it really works:

In the US, the free market system is used to locate copyright violations.

What that basically means is that freelance attorneys, legal aids and even private citizens can locate and report copyright violations and they can be compensated for their footwork in extreme cases. In other words, there is a reward.

In the case of Internet publishing, the usual first step is that the perceived violator will be issued the "Cease and Desist" letter from attorneys representing the copyright owners. That is typically enough to get the person in violation to do what the title of the letter indicates, to cease and desist with the publishing. In other words, stop right now before this goes further and you will not incur the costs of legal defense, possible legal judgement against you that can cost you money, etc.

Own a house? Be very careful here.

Today we have a situation where many of the older copyrights now belong to very large corporations that have scoured the planet looking for copyright owners, relatives, etc. who are willing to sell said rights to these corporate entities. Money in hand is more and more likely to be enticing than possible future royalties in today's economic climate. BIG corporations. With Music Writing Attorneys onboard whom they pay whether the attorneys are working for them at the time or not. That means the corporation would rather these attorneys were actually working for them than just sitting there collecting the contract fees involved.

*Someone, be it attorney, legal aide or just plain snitch, locates a possible copyright violation and reports it to the representative of the actual copyright owner.

*Representative of copyright owner refers possible violation to the appropriate Music Writing Attorney's team.

*Team checks it out, if found to be in violation, Cease and Desist order gets sent.

*Depending on what the party found to be in violation does, the "someone" who is logged as finding and reporting can receive monetary payment for the find.

*Person found to be in violation that continues on with the violation may soon find themselves being served with court papers. Expect to have to hire an attorney of your own, depending upon judgement or court order, you may even be responsible not only for award of damages as defined by a judge, you may even be tasked with paying the legal fees for the whole shootin' match, which means not only the court costs but could also include the other party's attorney's fees. Ouch.

It. Ain't. Worth. It.

On the other hand, if you do your demographics assessment properly and research the proper Licensing Fees for the copyrighted material properly and the math comes out that there can indeed be enough sales potential to cover all that plus yield a profit, you likely won't get rich quick, but such could prove to be a worthwhile endeavor. Be advised that copyists and arrangers are at the bottom end of that food chain, though.


--Mac

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