Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Iowa

I was in a band. There were four members. We each wrote our own songs (there were no co-writers as we did not collaborate TOGETHER) though we recorded together. One member in particular recorded all of the songs but we ALL sat in on mixing and production. A few days ago I noticed this particular ex member had put my songs up on his website stating his name then the band name after the song as 'claim'. He says he owns the sound recordings though there was no written agreement, he was not a sole producer and did hardly anything on the songs themselves. Is it true that he may represent my own pieces of creative work without my permission?


Asked on 5/14/11, 10:08 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

All compositions are protected by copyright law, but of course they're difficult to enforce and particularly if you did not spend the time and money to register your copyright. If you have not done so, and it's important to you, register them. You can then proceed to enforce your rights.

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Answered on 5/16/11, 10:05 am


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