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Music copyright infringement How Does Music Copyright Infringement Affect Me? Music copyright infringement happens all around us every day, by both well meaning people downloading music from their favorite social networking site to the guy who’s reselling MP3s. To be certain, most people who commit music copyright infringement don’t realize what’s going on, and are in turn doing something very illegal and prosecutable in the United States. Copyright Infringement, as defined by Wikipedia.org states: “Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is protected by intellectual property rights law particularly the copyright in a manner that violates one of the original copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. The slang term bootleg (derived from the use of the shank of a boot for the purposes of smuggling) is often used to describe illicitly copied material.” We’ve all heard of ‘bootleg’ recordings – usually audio recordings taken from concerts and sold on home made cassettes or CDs and distributed (sometimes out of the trunk of a car) to anyone that will buy. Bootleg recordings have changed, however, as music copyright infringement has branched into video recordings. Music copyright infringement has exploded with the advent of the internet, and now people from all over the world are sharing every type of imaginable file – from eBooks to audio to music – and small label artists began feeling the pinch years ago. However, many new and older artists are beginning to see the beauty of the internet, and are offering their music for sale track-by-track on iTunes and other MP3 sales websites, as well as through their own band websites and MySpace pages. The internet has exploded in the possibilities it’s given up and coming musicians to become visible, while at the same time drastically increasing the number of music copyright infringement cases – some of which were against innocent people who just weren’t informed. Music copyright infringement cases have helped to create organizations that protect the fair use of an item, such as a song. Organizations such as CreativeCommons.com and the Electronic Frontier Foundation help individuals to know their rights under copyright acts. While there are organizations that help you understand your rights as a purchaser of copyright use, there are organizations that want to limit the ways in which you use the products you buy. It is rumored, for example, that record distribution and production companies want to limit the ways in which you use the music you buy – they don’t want you to put it on your computer or make a Mix Tape or CD from it – for fear of ‘sharing.’ It seems to me, however, when music publishers and distribution companies limit uses like this, they’re opening up a tidal wave of music copyright infringement cases. By limiting the use of purchased material, the companies are alienating their client base and pushing all their sales away from physical products and toward electronic ones – which are much harder to control. A way in which these companies tried to limit the uses was by creating a DRM program, which severely limited the where a CD could be played (on one computer, for instance). And, in one drastic measure, Sony placed a DRM program on all their CDs in the Winter of 2005, and severely crippled several networks when their ‘program’ was actually malware that seriously crippled network security. As you can see, music copyright infringement is something that is currently being fought between end users and music production and distribution companies. In this new century, we must find a way to retain copyright, and allow the customers to use the products they buy in a meaningful way, or otherwise the market will shift and the industry as we know it will be abandoned.

Following Up on Fallacies about Getting Free Stuff “Free stuff” – the mere whisper of the words is often enough to make many people throw common sense out the window and head for the free goods like a missile to a target. And then there are those people whose eyes glaze over when they hear those words, because they can’t believe anything worth having can actually be free. The truth about free stuff is really somewhere in the middle. Yes, you can really and truly cash in on many freebie deals for things that you want to have, but a healthy sense of cynicism about free gear is also useful. Here are some of the important things to keep in mind about free stuff. The first myth you should throw out the window is that nothing good comes for free. The fact of the matter is that the price tag on a good doesn’t always match up to the quality, and there are many great free things out there. Case in point: music. Sure, everyone has heard the scare stories about file sharing online, and maybe some big record labels will come after you if you focus on their artists. Dig a little below the surface, however, and you can find a whole new world of really great bands that are more than happy for you to listen to their music over and over again. The same goes for free software. People on the cutting edge of technology who have a passion for creating new and efficient applications often develop open source code software. They’re doing it for the love of it, and they often have more talent than any ten suit-and-tie tech guys trying to hock their latest product for a mega profit margin. Here is where the reality part comes in, however. Yes, you can find wonderful things that are completely free – but yes, you can also find a lot of free things that aren’t worth your time at all and in some cases can cause you a lot of trouble. The net is a great place to fall victim to a “free stuff” scam, but you can also sometimes come across these scams in the mail as well. If something is free, but requires you to give your credit card number or bank details, run the other way. Another myth people have about free stuff, especially free stuff on the internet, is that when you try to cash in, the only free stuff you will be getting is an inbox full of more spam than you can handle. The truth about this is, well, that is can certainly be true. Many companies give away free things in exchange for your email address, so they can try to hit you up to purchase things in the future. What makes this a myth, however, is that it can be avoided. If you don’t want to choke on an inbox of spam, and who could blame you, set up a special (free) email account that you will use exclusively for freebie hunting. You’ll have the best of both worlds. The last myth about free stuff involves the “catch” people are always looking for. Often, for free stuff, the catch is a bit of junk mail or email or the fact that you have to submit to a time consuming survey. Sometimes, the catch is that if you get free stuff through a trial offer, if you don’t cancel it, it keeps coming, and this time you have to pay. The truth about these catches is, however, that the catch is in the eye of the beholder. These things don’t make products any less free; so don’t write off every free offer offhand. You might just find a catch you can live with to get a great free product you really want.

Copyright lawyer trademark Learning about a Copyright Lawyer Trademark You may need a copyright lawyer trademark if you own your own website or are an author of a book. If you haven’t already spoke with one you may want to do it very soon to find out if your articles/site can be trademarked or if it is already taken. One way to make sure you have the copyright to all of your work is by making sure you have the little “c” inside the circle at the end of your article or the bottom of your webpage. For instance a slogan can be considered a trademark, think of the milk commercial, remember that certain phrase? You can bet money that had a copyright lawyer trademark it for the milk company. There are many popular household products that have been trademarked; you probably wouldn’t recognize the product without it. Drive down the road and look at how many trademarks you see on restaurants, each one of those famous places had a copyright lawyer trademark their signature. Many products that may need protecting may include songs, products such as household or commercial, designs, ads, etc. If you think the idea is a good one, it probably needs some form of protection and the best person to help you with that is a copyright lawyer trademark. There are actually three forms of trademark that you probably weren’t aware of which is why a good copyright lawyer trademark will come in handy. There is common trademark which is just like it sounds. A state trademark, which means you, filed your trademark with the state in which you reside. An example for this might be a company using their city in their business name. Third is the federal registration trademark, this is a registration that can be renewed every year or forever. Someone that has a website that is becoming popular may want to make sure they reserve their trademark forever so that someone else doesn’t buy it down the road. Keep in mind that just because you buy a domain name doesn’t mean you actually own the trademark, you might actually see another site with the same name. If you don’t want this to be the case, have a copyright lawyer trademark it. A great example of showing you how a copyright lawyer trademark works would be by looking at the recent celebrities that bought the trademarks to their children’s names so no one can cash in on their names. Believe it or not even a copyright lawyer can have a trademark, that’s right they may have their own site or logo on a business card. In this case they’ve probably done all that fancy paperwork that you are getting started to do, which means they’ll have first hand knowledge when it comes time to help you out. This should actually make you feel a lot more comfortable than dealing with a lawyer that just knows the job; this one actually has experience that will help you. Know what you want to be yours and how long you want it; if it is something that you just can’t live without or you know will be worth something someday you may want to hire a copyright lawyer to trademark it. This way it is always yours and you never have to worry about someone else using it, they will always have to have your permission. Not to mention if they ever try suing you for using it you can always prove that you are the owner. Protect your stuff by getting a copyright lawyer trademark all things that matter.