b1scu1t wrote:
And most importantly, do you guys know how long it takes after you submit the Notification of Works until your songs are copyrighted? We have someone that wants to take our EP to a friend of his in the US but we first want copyright on our songs.
deebee wrote:
I read up once on an American guitar site where a person in the know stated that in american law, when someone writes something down, it is automatically copy written to that particular person, so, even tho' you don't live there, the fact is, that in the eyes of Yankee Doodle law, you have automatic protection. This was written by a guy who had studied the law, and was given as fact. Hope this helps, but, go for everything that is on offer [and is affordable] I spoke to Eugene Goolou at SAMRO, and he said that the moment that they receive a hard copy cd of someone's works [music] then copy write protection is immediate.
Yes, I study copyright law, its one of my main field of interests (specifically music law), and that is absolutely correct. You don't register copyright, the moment you write a song, and its yours, the song will have copyright. If someone tries to claim it as their own or use it without authorisation, you can certainly stop them.
How it works in SA and USA is kinda the same. There are differences. But thanks to international law the Americans have to treat all foreign (non-USA) song writers as they would treat their own copyright artists. So yes, your songs have copyright worldwide. Well at least in the countries that count.
