Where do I report a copyright violation?

  • gigisanchez · Member ·

    Entire songs are posted. Do I just send an Email to Support or is there a form somewhere? Thanks.

    This is the WP blog:
    http://musicreliesonlove.wordpress.com/

    This is the thread in Off Topic, promoting the blog (“Ideas for song choices”):
    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/ideas-for-song-choices?replies=5

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • timethief · Member ·

    See here > http://en.wordpress.com/complaints/

    Digital Millennium Copyright Act Notice (retired)

  • raincoaster · Member ·

    If it’s not your copyright, it’s highly unlikely that you can report it at all. I’m not a thousand percent sure, but I’m more than 50% sure that song lyrics are allowed to be posted; after all, people can just write them down from the songs, and they frequently do. The only artist I know who goes after people who do this is Prince, and he hasn’t won every battle.

  • gigisanchez · Member ·

    Thanks, Timethief

    Song lyrics are owned by the artist and whatever label has rights to it. You should know that. If WP is allowing them to be posted, that’s new and that goes against the law. Any attorney in intellectual property can advise you on this.

  • gigisanchez · Member ·

    TT,
    That link only talks about if the copyright is owned by me. I’ll Email Support.

  • raincoaster · Member ·

    Well, if you wrote any of them, you can report them.

  • invisiblemikey · Member ·

    I took a look at the blog in question, because I’m interested in intellectual property issues, and the ways people can misunderstand or become confused about the ownership and use of content.

    The blog is pretty unoriginal, in that the poster lists entire lyrics to songs she and her girlfriends like. However, in most cases, she also comments favorably about the effect or meaning of the songs. That counts as ‘fair use”, in essence a critique of the song. She never says she owns the songs, and lists the artists and usually the authors, and she isn’t trying to make any money from the blog. In exactly what way is the original artist being harmed by fans saying “I love this song”?

    The point of copyright protections is to prevent artists from being financially damaged by people copying AND SELLING their material. There are lyrics web sites all over the internet. They (and other places like Wikipedia) don’t pay anyone for the right to list lyrics, and the publishers are HAPPY to have the words to their songs promoted for free. It would be different if you were reprinting the entire text of a written-only work, but by printing the words of a recorded/released song you are excerpting it, and excerpts are also permitted under “fair use” if the person is not attempting to profit, and especially if they are supportive of the work.

    No damages = no violation.

  • thesacredpath · Member ·

    Song lyrics are all over the internet. There are literally hundreds of places where you can search for the lyrics to a song.

    Unless the copyright holder files a DMCA notice then wordpress will not likely do anything about it. As I said, there are sites out there that I look at for song lyrics that I have literally been using for over ten years and they have not been taken down. It seems as if as long as the song is properly attributed to the artist or artist/songwriter then the copyright holders just look the other way.

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