Comments on: How Chuck Berry Became a Beach Boy (and other copyright infringement cases)

By: Rachael

Rachael — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:12:41 +0000

This is a trademark issue, not copyright, but the Girl Scout thing reminded me – don’t forget Johnson & Johnson’s recent ill-conceived lawsuit against the American Red Cross concerning … the red cross. Johnson & Johnson has actually held the trademark to the red cross logo for years and has had a sort of gentleman’s agreement with the Red Cross allowing them to use it, since they’re a nonprofit, but J&J drew the line at the Red Cross licensing it for use on first aid kits and things like that that weren’t benefiting the nonprofit directly. Theoretically, J&J’s reasoning is not all that unsound, but the PR disaster that’s resulted from suing a charity has not been good for the company’s image.

By: Larson

Larson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:53:21 +0000

Phuck Lawyers!

By: June Yer

June Yer — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:51:03 +0000

Be sure to thank a greedy, dirt bag lawyer for this stupidity. Paying a royalty for singing campfire songs? What next? Sue Mother Nature on behalf of water utilities for taking away their lawn watering business??

Lawyers are idiots and serve no purpose.

By: WarTiger

WarTiger — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:48:13 +0000

Dont forget about George Harrison’s mishap over “my sweet lord” sounding curiously like “he’s so fine” apparently he wouldnt listen to the radio after he was found guilty of incidental infringement.

By: Patrick B

Patrick B — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:04:11 +0000

There is another music Copywrite company worth note. CCLI handles licensing for all those lovely songs we sing in churches. not the Hymns but if you have ever sang a chorus you probably owe them money unless you have a CCLI licence. I handle the license for my church so every couple of years I get to take part in a report cycle. That means for 3 months I have to keep track of every song we sing, how many times we sing it, and how many copies of music and lyrics are printed, are overheads used, was the service recorded and was any part of the song changed in any way. Oh and every time we print something we have to place our account number on it to make it legal.

Think about this the next time you sing This Little Light of Mine. GRIN

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:58:47 +0000

Saying a group of people can’t sing a copyrighted song in public without paying a fee, like around a campfire, or singalong at a party, is like Golden Press sueing a church or family reunion for serving a meal using one of their copyrighted recipes from Betty Crocker’s cookbook. It’s just silly.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:21:18 +0000

I’m a musician, so I totally respect an artist’s right to try to protect their music, but there’s a point where it’s absolutely ridiculous. Organizations like ASCAP and the RIAA are going too far too often these days. Some of their actions in recent years aren’t in line with what artists register with organizations like ASCAP for. Artists use ASCAP to keep people from profiting off of their music without giving them their fair share, not so that ASCAP can levee fees and strong-arm organizations, venues, and individuals. Sure, if another band covers my song and puts it on their album and makes money off of it, I want a cut. If a night club makes it’s money off of having music to dance to (by cover bands or by dj or a PA), okay, they should have to pay the artists. But if the music is just incidental like business’s telephone music, or overhead background music in stores or restaurants, not a vital part of what the business does that makes it money, the majority of musicians don’t want anyone to pay for that. Most certainly, I don’t know a single musician that would commend ASCAP for protecting them against infringement from the Girl Scouts. Those huge “artists” organizations have completely lost touch with intentions of the musicians they say they are protecting.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:28:39 +0000

That girl scout reference is so funny. These folks gotta come up with some way to duke out these copyright things without looking so much like money grubbers. For whatever reason, it because hard to respect with that reputation.

I’d move to independent as much as possible for that reason alone. I wrote a quick recommendation of the eMusic service, which seems to get the point.