The Importance of copyright!
What is copyright? Legally the right to copy/transfer/ownership/use any works!
When do you coyright work (s) ? From the time of creation your work is copyrighted!
You and or co-writers are the owner of your material! There are many ways to
copyright your music 1. You cam mail your CD and written material back to yourself
as registerd mail noting the contents on the package. 2.Put this unopened package
in a safe place, you can do one song or an album of songs never open this package!3.
You can register your works with a copyright office the main one is in Wasington DC.
But thier are many offices in your State,County, or Capital city where you can register
your works. 4.Your society of performing rights can give you more details on where your
local office is! Why is copyright so important I will tell you a story in a minuet so you will
understand.
This is the story of Sophia Stewart a struggling playwrite in college. In 1981 During college days
While struggling in college to make ends meet Sophia answered an ad by Warner brothers asking
for new science fiction material! The scripts she wrote were the Terminator and the Matrix! But like many obscure writers the scripts were rejected or so she thought! In 1999 while taking in the movie the Matrix she felt it was based on a script she wrote called "The third eye" She wrote in 1981. The same script that was rejected by Warners brothers those yrs ago, she filed a lawsuit.
Once the FBI got involved they discovered a substantial amount of the plot was removed in the movie so as not to infringe upon the copyright! Witneses came forward stating the Lawyers for the Wachoski Brothers (Whom claim the wrote the script) new the story line didnot belong to them!
Sophias work was shown several times during production they even tried to dimiss it in court. The moral of the story here is everybody was trying to deny her claims with a backlash against her.
She won her case and settled for 2.5 Billion dollars!
How Important is copyright if your a script writer,Book writer, songwriter you better get your
copyright on because somone may reject your material but all the while stealing your stuff.
Human nature Human greed trust no one if you belive in your music and someone rejects
your work don't automaticly believe never shop your work before copyrighting. Some one out there could be making real money off your un copyrighted mateial or try to steal your work.
Copyright protects you in the court of law and by the way did I tell you Sophia Stewart is "African American" Let's all scream Yeah!
Peace anf love until the next chapter!
P Bailey
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