Now the shoe is on the other foot!

August 20, 2008
From: http://www.ibls.com/inter...44C2F7C601

...The availability of digital music is becoming more common even despite all the litigation and cease and desist letters that have been used to resolve the issue. The culpability of Internet sites has come under fire many times. Rock stars Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and James Taylor filed a lawsuit against Vivendi Universal's MP3.com music Web site for allegedly distributing their songs without authorization. Statutory damages may be sought...
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All of these artists are on Sony’s music label. The musicians' suit, reportedly filed in Manhattan federal court, alleges that MP3.com digitally copied their tracks from commercial CDs and then offered the music files to users.
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...Statutory damages are a major weapon in a copyright plaintiff's arsenal, and their potential use to deter music uploading and downloading via the Internet. Plaintiffs have statutory damages available in all copyright cases. Statutory damages may be awarded to the plaintiff even if the actual market harm may be quite small or difficult to calculate with a degree of certainty. Statutory damages are meant to send a strong message that potentially can deter individuals from infringing....
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Has a court in a similar case awarded statutory damages?
On September 6, 2000, Judge Rakoff, in UMG Recordings v. MP3.com, awarded the plaintiffs $25,000 in "statutory damages" per CD uploaded on the MP3.com system. MP3.com stated that "no more than 4,700 CDs" owned by the plaintiffs were on the system, while the plaintiffs alleged that the number was closer to 10,000 CDs. In any event, the damages were estimated between $118 million and $250 million.

How can another’s copyrighted work be used lawfully?
If an individual or a company intends to use a copyrighted work, unless the use is considered a "fair use,” the copyright holder’s written permission must be obtained. you must obtain that person's written permission. Under federal law, only the copyright owner or someone acting with the owner's authority, such as a publisher, can grant that permission, because without this written permission legal risks may be imposed. Permission cannot be obtained at a later time. Copyright owners have the unfettered right not to grant you permission. The lack of permission can result in this work being blocked or the payment of thousands of dollars in copyright damages and attorneys' fees if the copyrighted material is not used without permission.

What are the myths involving copyrights and the need to secure permission before using these works?
The myths for not securing a copyright include: (1) that the work intended to be used does not have a copyright notice; (2) if the person gives credit to the copyright holder then that person does not need permission; (3) since there is only a small portion of the original work, no permission is required; (4) since there is an adaptation of the original work, no permission is required; (5) the work is now in the public domain, no permission is needed; (6) the material has been posted anonymously on a news groups or an online discussion board so therefore the work is in the public domain ; (7) permission can be obtained at a later time; (8) the material to be used is from an out-of-print book means that the work is in the public domain; (9) the work will be used for non-profit educational purposes so no permission is required; and (10) no permission is required because the work was published before 1923 and is over 75 years old.