Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

You're looking at a copyright infringement action, which is brought exclusively in the federal courts. To sustain such an action, you MUST register your work with the US Copyright Office ( www.copyright.gov ), ideally filing the work before you bring a lawsuit. While common-law (unregistered) copyright does attach at the moment a work is affixed in a tangible medium, the federal courts are glutted and will simply throw out an action brought on an unregistered copyright. Copyright registration fees can be found at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html .

As to your question, you really need to hire a copyright attorney to help you. There is a LOT that goes into determining whether the artist has used a sufficient portion of your work to be worth going after them, or whether their use might be "fair use." Making that determination is far beyond what I can do for you on this board.

To find a copyright attorney, visit the US Patent and Trademark Office's roster of attorneys at https://oedci.uspto.gov/OEDCI/ ; this is a search engine. Put in the name of your location and/or your zip code. This will bring up the patent attorneys and agents practicing in that area. Very (very) often, patent attorneys also handle copyright matters.

Copyright automatically attaches to your original songs (musical compositions) the moment you put them into tangible form (paper, recording, video, etc.). If you are the exclusive copyright owner of your musical compositions, you are entitled to the exclusive right to publish, distribute and license your work.

If your original compositions are being used without your permission or compensation, you may have legal remedy, against the Artist for copyright infringement. Before filing a copyright infringement lawsuit, you must (1) register the songs with the US Copyright Office (2) and send a Copyright Infringement notice to the Artist.

There are many complex factors that must be determined as to the viability of your copyright enforcement action, so I recommend that you contact an experienced Intellectual Property attorney to resolve this matter on your behalf.

COMMENTS MADE HEREIN ARE NEITHER LEGAL OPINION NOR DO THEY ESTABLISH AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.