Barry points out that Songuard’s service is affordable and works until you get the money to file with the Copyright office. Here’s Songuard’s offer: Songuard gives you copyright protection for only $3.95. When you post your song on the internet or send it out to artists, producers, publishers, and labels, millions of people have access to it. If that song is not copyrighted or protected in some way, you are at great risk that someone may take your melodic and lyrical ideas and treat them as their own. If that happens and your song is not protected, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
You automatically have a copyright the date you create a song and put it into a physical tangible form. The purpose of filing for a US Copyright is to prove and verify that date of creation. A US Copyright costs $55 for one writer and $75 for two or more writers. That’s pretty expensive for most songwriters.
Registering your song with Songuard will give you the same proof and verification of the date of creation as a US Copyright and it only costs $3.95. Too good to be true? Go to http://www.songuard.com and look under FAQ/Terms and you will understand why we can make this claim.
● You upload the melody, lyric and writer information.
● Your submission receives a date and time stamp along with an encrypted digital signature.
● You will receive an email confirming that your song was registered.
● Your submission will be permanently stored on our secure servers.
● Your song is now protected and your submission can be used to prove date of creation.
● Songuard does not review the content that is registered.
From Songuard’s FAQs/Terms page:
For more extensive and comprehensive information on copyrights go to https://www.copyright.gov/ and under copyright law review the Chapters and Appendices.
We do recommend that songwriters, at some point in time, register their songs with the US Copyright Office. The reason being, a US Copyright gives you certain statutory advantages such as damages and injunctive relief if an infringement lawsuit is filed. It is important that you file with the US Copyright Office before you instigate an infringement lawsuit if you wish to be entitled to the above described statutory advantages. That being said, if you first register your song with Songuard™, this will establish a date of creation which will give you copyright protection quickly and inexpensively. If you want the statutory advantages that come with a US Copyright, you must file with the US Copyright Office. In our opinion, regardless of when you decide to instigate a federal filing, the initial Songuard™ submission will have established and verified a date of creation.
Barry DeVorzon <barry@masterwriter.com>
Thank you for responding to my email, I enjoyed talking with you. Below is the list of Infringement cases I promised you.
High Profile Infringement Cases – Prevailing party or settled out of court*
Dark Horse – Katy Perry *
Joyful Noise – Marcus Gray/Flame
Truth Hurts – Lizzo *
Healthy – Justin & Jerimiah Raisen
Old Town Road – Lil Nas
Ghosts I-IV – Trent Reznor*
Everything I Am – Kanye West & Solange Knowled
If We Can’t Be Lovers – Leroy Mitchell*
Don’t Wake Me Up – Chris Brown
Don’t Wake Me Up – Nayri Gregor*
Thank God I Found You – Mariah Carey*
One Of Those Love Songs – Swinsky & Campbell
Shake It Off – Taylor Swift*
Playas Gon’ Play – Sean Hall & Nathan Butler
Friends – Marshmello, Anne Marie, Natalie Dunn
Obvious – Anderson, Thompson, Boardman, Blanchard, Bowman*
Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams
Got To Give It Up – Marvin Gaye*
Surfin’ USA – Brian Wilson
Sweet Little Sixteen – Chuck Berry*
My Sweet Lord – George Harrison
He’s So Fine – Ronny Mack/Chiffons*
Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr.
I Want A New Drug – Huey Lewis*
Uptown Funk – Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson
Oops Upside Your Head – The Gap Band*
The Rest of Your Life –Tim McGraw & Faith Hill – Ed Sheeran
When I Found You – Jasmine Ray – Sean Carey, Beau Golden *
Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye*
Photograph – Ed Sheeran
Amazing – Martin Harrington & Thomas Leonard*
Stairway To Heaven – Led Zeppelin *
Taurus – Randy Wolfe/Spirit
Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
You Need Love – Willie Dixon*
Bring It On Home – Led Zeppelin
Bring it On Home – Willie Dixon*
Dazed and Confused – Led Zeppelin
Dazed and Confused – Jake Holmes*
Boogie With Stu – Led Zeppelin
Ooh! My head – Richie Valens*
The Lion Sleeps tonight – Seegar, Peretti, Creatore, Weiss, Stanton, Campbell
Mbube – Solomon Linda*
Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
Crescent City Blues – Gordon Jenkins*
Pending:
All About That Bass – Meghan Trainor
Happy Me – Koyote
Highest in the Room – Travis Scott
Cartier – O. Bassil, B. Lasnier, L. Benjamin
Corrina Corrina – Rod Stewart
Corrine Corrina – Bo Carter Chatmon
Lucid Dreams – Juice WRLD
Hollywood Died – Yellowcard
7 Rings – Arianna Grande
You Need It I Got It – Josh Stone
Sorry – Justin Bieber
Ring The Bell – White Hinterland
Game On – Carrie Underwood
Game On – Heide Merrill
Carry On – Lil Nas
Carry On – Bobby Caldwell
Barry DeVorzon, President
MasterWriter Inc.
# # # # #
What COMBO’s lawyers had to say:
● RE: Songuard.™: It is a timestamp. It is not a copyright nor is it copyright protection.
● “[R]egistering a song or material with Songuard™ cannot be construed as a formal copyright… the only purpose of registering a song or material with Songuard™ is to establish a submission date and the content of what was submitted. It does not provide the statutory protections that come with a US Copyright registration. In the event of a copyright dispute, when requested, Songuard™ will send certified copies of the registered song or songs to whomever the customer and submitter designates, or if directed, to the appropriate Court of Record. Songuard™ does not guarantee that the documentation provided will be considered evidence by a court of law.” (Emphasis added.)
● In the U.S., copyrights are formally registered in the Copyright Office. It is this registration certificate that courts recognize as “prima facie” evidence of copyright ownership.
● Songuard is merely a service that will help the artist prove that a creative work was created and put into a tangible format. It does not actually register the work with the US copyright office. Under the common law, a work is automatically copyrighted upon creation, put into tangible form, and published to another party. Songuard only documents that fact.
● Common law copyright protection is good, but there are many added benefits to registering works with the US copyright office. First, you get the benefit of all of the federal laws protecting copyrights, and the federal remedies for infringement, which include attorney fees and statutory damages. Those are not available under the common law. If a work is not registered, under the common law, the artist has to prove actual damages for infringement, and cannot recover attorney fees in an infringement action. The remedies if you register with the copyright office are much stronger and provide a means for an attorney to justify filing a case where actual damages are hard to prove. Further, if you register, the work is searchable on the USPTO website. People who want to use an artist’s work can easily find it and make contact with the artist to use the work. Songuard does not offer those benefits.
● The copyright office allows artists to register all of the songs on an album for one fee if there are not multiple authors. It is pretty cheap insurance.
All of these lawyers can be found on COMBO’s website under “Resources”!