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!
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