Copyrights

Bishop Sakyi and C. Camille NeSmith

Copyright law of the Unites States provides for copyright protection in “musical works, including any accompanying works."  These works must be fixed and submitted in various forms such as paper, CD, or hard drive.

Copyright owners have the exclusive right to make copies of, prepare any derivative works of, sell, distribute, and perform the work.  Others seeking to use the fixed work must have the permission of the author or entity/person who legally owns the rights.

Copyright Registration

An application for copyright registration must consist of three main components:

• A completed application;
• A nonrefundable filing fee; and
• A nonreturnable copy or copies of the work being registered.

Benefit of Registration

Once a work is registered an author is permitted to make an infringement claim against any unauthorized users.

Duration

Works created on or after January 1, 1978 shall enjoy protection for:

• A single author, the life of the author plus 70 years
• Joint authors, the life of the last surviving author plus 70 years
• Works published before January 1, 1978 shall enjoy protection when:
• Published in or after 1964 – 95 years (from the year 2059 and beyond)
• Published before 1964 and the:
• Renewal is not done, 75 years (Up to the year 2038)
• Renewal done, 95 years (Up to the year 2058)

Works not published before January 1, 1978 shall enjoy protection for:

• The life of author plus 50 years unless the protection would have already expired.  If the work is already expired, then December 31, 2002.

The information provided should in no way be considered legal advice.  The accuracy of any legal information provided is not guaranteed.  Please seek professional help if there are concerns about specific legal issues.