Music copyrights Limitations

[cybrain]

Hello everybody,

Being a newcomer to this field I still remain under dark on some issues and their functional limitations regarding music copyrights. In common sense we understand that copyright is the legal shield that safeguards one's creation, granting exclusive rights to the creator of the piece.

As for music, I wonder how effectively one artiste can retain the rights of his music piece as copying of themes under the veil of "inspiration" are so rampant nowadays. Under what circumstances can an artiste apply or move for violation of his/her music copyrights?

[Tania ATL]

I can only redirect you to U.S. Copyright Office - http://copyright.gov/, for we are not lawyers here, and non-professional answer may only entangle the matter.

And my own opinion : I think that first of all better to decide if you're in need to move... It can be that similar melodies are performed by several artists, but what human rights are really infringed by this? Or it's just a marketing strategy to gain popularity via another copyright scandal... What can really infringe one's rights? Basical rights - like a right to be, to live & to breathe? Definitely not using the same melody you've "gave birth to". And let's try to look at it from such point of view - some people say that single information field exists, and all information blocks can be accessed by any person from any place if only this person can hear an answer to its questions... Than what originality can we speak of? Just like a right of first discoverer of something that has ever existed. It's another if applied to material objects - like pictures or sculptures. But I think that information is a common thing and can not be a property.