copyright of the songs

[avinash]

     Consider the following scenario. Composer X lived about 150 years ago and composed songs that were sung by anyone who wanted to. No copyright laws even existed. Today, a company releases a CD/DVD with the same song rendered by singer A. Singer B (an amateur) records his rendering of the same song and uploads it to Youtube. The company releasing the CD/DVD claims copyright to that song and asks Youtube to take down the song claiming that they have the Intellectual Property Rights to that song. Youtube checks ( http://www.reelseo.com/youtube-keep-your-account-in-good-standing-really-mean/ ) and asks singer B to comply.

 

 

In your own words  argue as to whether it is a correct decision. Provide support your view. 

 

 

 

[avinash]

whether u support or oppose.tell ur view on the decision

[john]

Hey

Firstly youre premise is incorrect. At 150 years old the song would be out of copyright protection.

Depending on juridiction two things can be protected:

The arrangement used on the recording

The physical recording of the song using that arrangement.

If a company reports the issue to YouTube and / or Google if they are reporting a song infringement that would ultimately lose. If they reported an arrangement infringement, and there was one, well why should an arranger's efforts not be afforded some protection... after all that is the arranger's income... ie artists paying to use his original arrangement.

Now there are publishers out there that look for songs no longer under copyright control to do exactly this with, precisely with the idea of licensing their arrangement. In fact that might be the whole of their business model.

True, some publishers or record labels do try to claim rights they just don't have. They are chancing their arm in the hope that you will not contest the issue... especially if they know that you are an individual. It's wrong, just as business bullies are wrong wherever you find them.

That might sound implausible, but there have been many instances of companies who own arrangements being paid license fees for usage of the song by record lables/bands wanting to use the song because of the claim on the arrangement. Some of these publishing companies do it with the express purpose of building a catalogue of old songs with new arrangements with the sole purpose of selling rights, ownership or licenses for those songs and arrangements to be used within emerging markets... China is very popular.

What Hobo says about the DMCA and YouTube is quite right. Additionally if they claim an infringement but fail to file an action, my understanding is that a black mark can be applied to the reporting user's name, because they just created work for YouTube/Google for no reason, and because it helps reduce the mechanism being abused for commerical anti-competition reasons... ie take out your competition to boost your position.

If a company repeatedly does this with no ownership, no claim, they are soon seen for what they are: opportunistic, exploitative bullies.

Cheers

John