Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

[gwyn]

Stop it, Gwyn, you're encouraging me to go off-topic and I fear the approach of Mr Bear and Doc Matt could lead to several sore bottoms before bedtime!

Chortle.
I feel a new thread coming on.

[admin]

Wonder if admin could create some massive online database into which several people could contribute.

Yes. We'll discuss the possibilities off-thread. PM incoming!

[Lakelark]

Re Gwyn's post of 25.06.09, which set this topic going: I have produced a version of the Philippians passage in a popular verse format. If I post it, will I be sure of retaining copyright? Advice, please, admin.

[gwyn]

Apologies Lakelark. I'd fully intended to respond to your very kind offer to reproduce this piece of scripture in a metrical format. Your rights would, I'd confidently hope, Be respected herein.

Have you published your previous metrications (is that a word?)? If so, where can I find them?

Gwyn.

[musicus]

Re Gwyn's post of 25.06.09, which set this topic going: I have produced a version of the Philippians passage in a popular verse format. If I post it, will I be sure of retaining copyright? Advice, please, admin.

If it is your original work then the copyright belongs to you, automatically - though it wouldn't hurt to put "© 2009, your name. All rights reserved." on it. You can give (or sell) permission to people to copy it, and you can, if you wish, assign it to a publisher for a fee or a royalty. If by "post it" you mean post it here or somewhere else on the Internet, then I would probably advise against that, as it would be too easy for people to help themselves to your work and not respect your copyright.

I don't know if that answers your question and, needless to say, I am not a lawyer!

[admin]

If I post it, will I be sure of retaining copyright? Advice, please, admin.

Musicus is correct: post things on the internet and they will be used and not ascribed to you, so you cannot be sure of controlling copyright from that point of view. And, of course, copyright is only useful to you if you are prepared to defend it through the courts, with all the time and financial implications that has. Whilst you retain the copyright, you cannot control it as such on a public forum such as this. Let's face it, even if the words were in a book, people would use them without ascribing them to you. If you want to control it more tightly, then only PM it to people who ask you for it. Even then, despite the recipient's best intentions, it may get used without being ascribed to you - it may come down to who's preparing a music sheet for that week and whether they 'remember'.

Of course, you're caught between a rock an a hard place... if you want your words to be used, then you need to allow people to see them and, hopefully, to make the right choice and ascribe the work correctly. There are some very honest people in the world - I recently got asked for permission to use one of my compositions by someone in Singapore who, without a doubt, could just have used it and not said anything. I'd never have found out, but she went to the effort of tracking me down and even offering to pay. (I'm intrigued as to how she came to find the piece, given that it was published in a collection which hadn't had a great circulation.) There are benefits to allowing access to works; there's less control, but a greater take up and occasional surprises! I suspect it was ever thus and ever will be.

As far as your metrical Phillipians passage, if posted on this forum, yes the copyright is retained by you, not Society of Saint Gregory - or anyone else.

[Lakelark]

Thank you, admin, for your comprehensive advice. I have communicated with Gwyn privately and forwarded my text, to his satisfaction. I can only continue to consider whether the internet is an appropriate medium. It's clear that copyright is a sensitive issue, especially to those involved with it professionally. I don't reckon to make a living out of composing either words or music - I greatly enjoy doing it and hearing others enjoy the results. But I don't want to undermine the position of the professionals.

[Nick Baty]

Interesting piece in Times Higher Ed recently: about an expert in media law who'd written a book on media law which included the modern problems posed by the Internet: he later found the whole book published by AN Other on same t'interweb!

[presbyter]

Could some kind mod or admin correct the typo in the title of this thread please. The missing "r" is becoming irreverent. Thanks!

[Most fixed, will do the rest when I get another 5 minutes]- Mod

[Nick Baty]

You mean it wasn't to begin with?
I once produce a service sheet with the words: Chris has had died. Chris is risen. Chris will come again.

[gwyn]

Ah! That's better.