Originally Posted By: Roger Brown
Absolutely nothing to worry about unless your song is generating substantial income. Absolutely nothing.

Think about it....why would I go to the expense of suing you for infringement unless there's royalties to be claimed? A copyright infringement case costs a minimum of $20k to litigate. Why would I spend that money unless there was a heck of a lot more on the table to be gained?

99.9% of the infringement cases are brought by people who wrote songs that are generating little to no income, suing people who have a big hit. No one in their right mind is going to sue someone for a similar sounding song on an independent project, or even an album cut on most major artists. It's simply not worth the time & hassle, when all you'll accomplish is proving a point.


Why go to the expense of filing an infringement lawsuit unless there's substantial royalties to be claimed?

I believe there's actually quite a bit to worry about regardless of the amount of income the actual song in question is generating. Damages caused by an infringement can be much more than sales and play royalties. According to Business News Daily, possible consequences of intellectual property infringement that "Depending on the nature of the violations, penalties may include civil damages in the dollar amount of damages and lost profits, an injunction to stop the infringement, payment of the attorneys' fees by the infringer, and felony charges with prison time." There's also the issue of fair use that may have to be determined by litigation. Many people also have a strong sense of right and wrong values and their understanding that a person or entity has willingly and willfully wronged them and improperly used their intellectual material is motivation to threaten litigation. A person that feels they've been wronged and had their intellectual property stolen may be satisfied with a 7-10 year judgement from a small claims court knowing they've ruined the perpetrator's credit or had their wages garnished.

The threat of litigation is a very powerful negotiation tool and is a very efficient and economical method to secure a monetary settlement. While I agree with you regarding your assertion that infringement cases are made by people that wrote a song that is generating little or no income filing a claim against artists and record companies that have a similar sounding song, the actual percentage of claims made that go into extended and expensive litigation and trial is a tiny percentage of the total claims filed. Corporations and celebrity artists that have great exposure retain full time attorneys to avoid allowing claims to expand into time consuming and expensive litigation and particularly trials. Thousands of claims are privately and quietly negotiated each year especially ones that have merit that while not gaining monumental cash settlements, the amount still may be thousands of dollars but considered a big win by Corporate when considered in relation to their potential exposure and payout.





Last edited by Charlie Fogle; 02/04/21 07:41 AM.
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