copyright question
I wrote and uploaded severals songs to musicscore, do I legally own it once it's uploaded, or do i have to register it for copyright?
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I wrote and uploaded severals songs to musicscore, do I legally own it once it's uploaded, or do i have to register it for copyright?
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Comments
It depends on your jurisdiction, but if you are based in the US you own a copyright on your work the moment you created it. So you don't need to register it.
That said, when uploading your work on MuseScore, you can choose the license under which you publish your work to the world: https://help.musescore.com/hc/en-us/articles/210386805-Choose-a-license
It depends as Thomas said, of the country you are based, but should you deem appropiate to go to court in the US in the case of a illegal use of your song in the US, having it registered in the US Copyright Office (https://www.copyright.gov) it will give you the posibility of claim "statutory damages", which in some cases would be substantial (ranging from USD $750 and up at the judge discretion); and if you win the claim, all the attorneys fees will be recovered from your side. If you don't register in the US Copyright Office, and the breach is in the US, you could sue the offender of course, but you would only recover "actual damages".
Go to the Copyright site for further info about these terms, but, in summary: Under 17 U.S.C. § 412, "statutory damages are only available in the United States for works that were registered with the Copyright Office prior to infringement, or within three months of publication."
In any case, it's true that under the international laws (at least including all the countries who signed the Berne convention) as soon you fixed your song in "tangible" form (ie, making a score) , you certainly own the rights to it. Other thing is, as said, if you need to go to court and (at least in the US) prove you are a rights holder of the song. Having it previously uploaded to MusesScore would certainly help, but the US courts only recognize official registration in the Copyright Office to recover statutory damages.
It's always convenient to properly mark the scores with your copyright notice (if you choose this type of license), so that nobody could claim innocent usage due to the score not having a notice in this regard.