EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 54, Issue 14 This issue's topics: COPYRIGHT (2 messages) Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1993 13:49:13 GMT From: JOEL STERN Subject: COPYRIGHT Does anyone know about American copyright laws? (American) Billboard magazine are running a song contest and I am considering entering a song. On the entry form they mention "Copyright registration not required. If song is registered, contestants must put copyright notices on entries and file under U.S. copyright laws." In my country (Australia), there is no copyright registration system. Protection if free and automatic. Material is protected from the time it is first written down or taped. It sounds like I should register in U.S. to make sure, but I don't know to contact or what the procedure is; or whether in fact it is appropriate or allowable for a person from another country to register in U.S.. Any help would be appreciated. David William Crocombe. EMAIL: david@abc.gov.au ------------------------------------------ THIS IS A REPLY TO THE ABOVE MESSAGE SUBJECT OF THE REPLY: REPLY ------------------------------------------ >Does anyone know about American copyright laws? David: I'm no expert on this but I think that your music is protected under the Bern Convention international copyright laws, which is probably why Australia and many other countries have no specific copyright arrangement. The U.S. recently became a party to the Bern Convention and I think that the system here is now duplicative but that people still seek protection under the old system because not everything in the Bern arrangement has been tested out in the courts yet. I'm not offering this as legal advice and I may be all wet but this is my understanding. By the way, I work across the hall from the U.S. copyright office and can try to get better info if you need it. Joel stern@mail.loc.gov. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1993 12:24:05 EST From: David Crocombe Subject: COPYRIGHT Does anyone know about American copyright laws? (American) Billboard magazine are running a song contest and I am considering entering a song. On the entry form they mention "Copyright registration not required. If song is registered, contestants must put copyright notices on entries and file under U.S. copyright laws." In my country (Australia), there is no copyright registration system. Protection if free and automatic. Material is protected from the time it is first written down or taped. It sounds like I should register in U.S. to make sure, but I don't know to contact or what the procedure is; or whether in fact it is appropriate or allowable for a person from another country to register in U.S.. Any help would be appreciated. David William Crocombe. EMAIL: david@abc.gov.au ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************