Back in the hazy days of the beginning of the Internet, someone wrote parody lyrics to a famous song. I searched for weeks for the author, but the search was fruitless. Every reference to the song was a dead end road leading to someone who had collected it.
My quartet specialized in parody songs -- which we usually write ourselves. But I wanted to sing THESE LYRICS. I wanted to sing it in shows sponsored by a company with a huge treasury -- which, I might put at risk should someone come out and say, "Hey, I wrote that! Now pay me!" Without ever finding the author, either we or our employer could find themselves facing both actual and punitive damages.
The lyrics are an example of an "Orphaned Work." As the US Copyright office, the courts, and the law presently sit -- that an owner cannot be found is not an excuse for failing to get permission to use it.
Most works like the one I wanted to use are trivial. The owners are tickled to have their works heard, and don't want any money at all. But most people aren't willing to take that risk, as the costs are so high if someone does show up and is able to prove authorship.
I'm happy to read now, "Two orphan works bills were introduced to begin to bring balance back to copyright law - to help find owners and encourage new and creative uses of unexploited copyrighted works."
Please -- whisper in your Congress-critters ear that one of these bills need to be passed! You can include this posting which explains why -- for free. :-)
My quartet specialized in parody songs -- which we usually write ourselves. But I wanted to sing THESE LYRICS. I wanted to sing it in shows sponsored by a company with a huge treasury -- which, I might put at risk should someone come out and say, "Hey, I wrote that! Now pay me!" Without ever finding the author, either we or our employer could find themselves facing both actual and punitive damages.
The lyrics are an example of an "Orphaned Work." As the US Copyright office, the courts, and the law presently sit -- that an owner cannot be found is not an excuse for failing to get permission to use it.
Most works like the one I wanted to use are trivial. The owners are tickled to have their works heard, and don't want any money at all. But most people aren't willing to take that risk, as the costs are so high if someone does show up and is able to prove authorship.
I'm happy to read now, "Two orphan works bills were introduced to begin to bring balance back to copyright law - to help find owners and encourage new and creative uses of unexploited copyrighted works."
Please -- whisper in your Congress-critters ear that one of these bills need to be passed! You can include this posting which explains why -- for free. :-)
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