[HANASHIR:12778] Re: Some copyright advise

[Rob Weissman <robw...>]

Friends --

Permit me to put on my lawyer's hat, although I am not an expert in copyright 
law.  The Fair Use Doctrine, which provides a limited exception to copyright 
infringement, is a widely litigated and very fact-driven area of copyright law. 
 However, 2 of the primary elements that determine whether the doctrine applies 
are 1) whether the copying is being done for a commercial purpose (i.e., you're 
making copies to sell them), and 2) whether the copying is hurting the 
marketability of the copyright holder's property (e.g., where someone copies a 
musical work for use of choir members rather than purchasing multiple copies).  
Where an accompaniest legally owns a copy of a copyrighted work, and is merely 
copying that work for his own use so that the music is in a more usable format 
(as I do all the time), I am confident that the Fair Use Doctrine would apply.  
This is actually not disimililar from some of the cases where the courts upheld 
home videotaping of copyrighted television shows for private use.

Rob Weissman
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ketzev2 (at) aol(dot)com 
  To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 3:13 PM
  Subject: [HANASHIR:12775] Re: Some copyright advise


  Marsha--

  It's very admirable of your accompanist, but somewhat impracticable. Perhaps 
you can convince her/him that you've paid the appropriate royalties and fees 
for the usage of the music, and that it just makes more practical sense to use 
the three ringed approach. 

  I think as long as they understand that no integrity has been compromised as 
far as legality, perhaps you can meander around the issue. Besides, the 
potential for a miscue in the service cues is huge with all those various books 
and volumes to navigate.

  Good luck...

  Peace,
  -Steve Dropkin
  Birmingham, AL