Welcome to the Copyright Q & A Page. Here you can ask questions about copyright law, and I will do my very best to get you an accurate response as soon as possible. To ask a question, simply post the question in the “Leave a Comment” box below.
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I have two specific questions about copyright. I teach at a private high school in the midwest.
Scenario 1: A school group burns 200 identical cd’s of the work of different artists combined from different legally purchased cd’s and gives them away as a memento of an event (like a retreat or mother daughter bonding event). Is this a violation of copyright law? (I think it is but our administration views it differently).
Scenario 2: A school choir sings popular show tunes at a school concert. They have purchased the sheet music for each piece. They then record the concert and the cd’s/dvd’s of the event are sold to parents/student/friends as a fund raiser for a choir trip.
From reading your book I have come to the conclusion that both of these scenarios are violations of copyright laws. I would appreciate your take on the matter.
Bruce,
Thank you so much for your questions.
In response to Scenario 1 – it is most definitely an infringement of copyright to burn copyrighted songs and distribute them. Sound recordings are covered by copyright law and may not be reproduced at all without specific permission from each copyright owner represented on the CD.
In response to Scenario 2 – to make this practice legal, you’d need to pay the appropriate royalties for each piece included on the CD. You can easily obtain the rights to do this by visiting http://www.harryfox.com and using their SongFile tool to do so.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Jim
I’m planning a mini-unit (I wish it was a year-long course!) for my 8th graders on copyright and file sharing. The lesson plans in the back of your book were great! In the plan “The Fight Against Piracy,” you refer to a presentation available on this website, “To Burn or Not To Burn…”. I can’t find it anywhere! Can you provide a direct link?
Thanks!
Molly,
For a PDF version of the presentation, visit http://www.soundtree.com/copyright. The presentation is at the bootom of the page.
My original To Burn Or Not To Burn PPT begins on the slide that asks the question “Are we raising a generation of criminals”.
If you prefer to have the original PPT, let me know.
Thanks for visiting the site! Hope you enjoyed the book.
Jim