Re: Authorship problem

On 9/4/98, Don Gotimer <dgotimer[_at_]abt.net> wrote:
>
> Bob was in a band we'll call One. One had a song, then Bob joined Two,
> who played the same song and put the song on their first album. Bob is
> untrustworthy but says "it's alright to use the song.
>
> Is there a way the settle authorship such as a hold harmless agreement?

Hi; I think it would depend on whether Bob crafted the large part of One's song, thereby making it his composition or whether it was a group endeavor. In many ways, it's more of an ethics question; if One did not record the song nor put it on an album, Bob did a crappy thing by giving the song to Two. Nonetheless, Two's other members are also accountable & really, I think it depends in large part on who crafted the song originally; the question is whether it was WRITTEN by One, or PERFORMED by One and written by Bob. If the song was written by another One member then I would say both Bob & Two have a potential problem to deal with.

Madeleine Fix
<fix.3[_at_]osu.edu> Received on Sat Sep 05 1998 - 18:18:40 GMT