I know my rights... my COPYrights... maybe?

I've been thinking, and working and as a music teacher sometimes I need to compose things. It turns out for one of my schools we do not have a school song. Well, we did many years ago with some words that a teacher "perhaps" remembers, and no actual music to go with it. So in the past two weeks I've scratched my head and composed a school song that is suitable for the school and for my students to play/ sing. So what are copyrights and how are they applicable to my intellectual property? What is my intellectual property? Is the school song I just composed my intellectual property? How do I protect it so that it stays our school song? How does technology inhibit or enhance protecting this or any recordings? We're going to explore this in the next couple of posts.

As far as Intellectual Property, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization it "refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce."

Ok. So my school song is Intellectual Property according to the "World." Sweet. So what if I'm not in commerce? My music is not commercially being sold, my fifth grade angels will be honking away at our concert, and hopefully for years to come. I want it to be out there though, in recording and hopefully in the form of written music. But I want it to be accessible to all.

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Intellectual Property is "creations of the mind- creative works or ideas embodied in a form that can be shared or can enable others to recreate, emulate, or manufacture them." Again, I'm good. My school song is still Intellectual Property in these United States of America. The USPTO lists that there are four ways we can "protect" intellectual property: patents, trademarks, copyrights or trade secrets. So let's see which one I need for my school song. 

Patents refer to not allowing others to use, sell or make whatever it is that you have a patent over. It's not forever and only applies to/ in the United States. You have to reapply after it is set to expire. This is not what I want, because I have not "invented" anything. Next! 


Trade Secrets are referred to as "information that companies keep secret to give an advantage over their competitors." Yeah, that is not what I am doing. My school song is for ALL to know and enjoy. :) NEXT!

Trademarks "protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods." Better, but I'm not sure this is what I want since trademarks are still involved in the commerce world, and since they can, they can be renewed FOREVER. Not really what I want. NEXT!

Copyrights protect works of authorship, such as writings, music, and worlds of art that have been tangibly expressed." YES! THIS IS IT! It also says that the Library of Congress registers them and they are good for as long as I'm alive and then seventy years after that.


Ok. Now. How do I do this and what do I do to get a copyright? Should I be getting the copyright or should my school? Hmmm... every time it seems as though I answer a question I find another five!! We will explore this set of questions in my next post!

Now appearing...

Hello/ Welcome to my very first Technology Blog! My name is Ms. T and I am an elementary instrumental music teacher who will begin to break down the "fourth wall" (the imaginary wall between stage and audience) between you and Intellectual Property.

Intellectual Property is a scary but powerful concept. Do we own what we dream, think, believe? If so, how do we monitor this and how can we control who uses it? Do we even want to control how others view and use our ideas? 

One of the ways that I want to explore this is through music. Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart had these wonderful compositions that today we use freely. For those who aren't aware, Mozart wrote this little composition:

Today we know it better as this:

Or even this: 

Or how about this:

So you see my predicament. 

Looking from the perspective that you do not want your music stolen, here are some questions one could ask:

• If this happens with Mozart, what will happen today with music composed by our students or ourselves? 
• Who does the music belong to when they compose during school? 
• Should students and parents copyright their musical compositions? 
• Should they be placed on the internet, via technology for others to take and use?
• What should happen if they are stolen, used, or adapted? 
• What about music sharing sites/ piracy/ torrent sites?

If you look from the perspective that you believe there are benefits to sharing your music and musical ideas, here are some questions:

• Do we want to stop the ebb and flow of sharing music and compositions?
• How would this negatively affect/ effect music and how it changes?
• Is all music really original, or simply just a "variation" of a composition that already exists?
• If we did not have music shared via technology, how would the musical world be?
• Isn't iTunes, Pandora, GrooveShark, Spotify assisting in the collaboration of musicians and the spread of music through our cultures?

Through my exploration of intellectual property, technology, and how we share/ copyright our music, I'm hoping to shed some light and break down that fourth wall so to speak. Feel free to ask questions and comment below!