Announcement: Tabs Of Copyrighted Somgs
Andrew Cockburn
Jun 25 2008, 01:59 PM
Moderation Policy Director
Posts: 10.459
Joined: 6-February 07
From: CT, USA
Dear all,

In a couple of threads in the last 24 hours we have had discussions about publishing of tabs on GMC for various reasons - the moderators have brought this to Kris attention and we have discussed what we can and can't do from a legal standpoint. So, here are the guidelines that came out of this - we'd be grateful if you could help us by keeping these in mind!

In general, posting a tab of a copyrighted song, even if it is your interpretation is a legal grey area. The record companies believe that they have the rights to the tabs and have on many occasions forced sites to stop publishing tabs by issuing cease and desist letters. Whilst there are fair use exclusions in copyright law, these are limited, and it is not clear how far even an educational site such as GMC could go. Claiming that a tab is your own interpretation doesn't impress the recrd companies, even though this may not have been tested in law, they will certainly try to enforce their copyright even in this case. These guidelines are about preventing GMC falling foul of any of these areas, and potentialy being told to cease and desist, or worse, being shut down for copyright infringement. So with that in mind, here are the guidelines!

1. Tabs of your own music, or music that is not copyrighted, or music for which you own the copyright are absolutely fine to post for any reason

2. Long or full length tabs of copyrighted songs are to be avoided, and shouldn't be posted in any form on GMC.

2. Small snippets of tabs - lets say a couple of bars, to ask questions on techniques, how to play, or if you have transcribed correctly are still technically copyrigh violations, so please keep these to a minimum and use them only if the purpose is clearly educational.

That's it - thanks for reading!

Regards,

Andrew, Kris and the Moderator Team

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steve25
Jun 25 2008, 02:09 PM
GMC:er
Posts: 1.197
Joined: 19-April 07
From: Wiltshire, England
Good points, although doesn't copyright only stand for a maximum of 25 years? Or am i maistaking this for trademark? I believe copyright has to be renewed every 5 years with the initial starting copyright lasting for 5 years. So if it is a fairly old song i think copyright no longer stands on it.

Also sites like UG are in an area where the tab copyright does not apply to them so accessing tabs is fine from there. If you buy tab though could you then put some of it here on GMC you know for educational purposes because you've bought legal tab? I take it putting in the style of with similar tabs would not be illegal and doing covers for educational purposes only would also not be illegal.

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