Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Is MySpace distribution of ORIGINAL

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Brief Background:

Our band has recently (over the past year) created a MySpace page under the name ''Beck & Thom Yorke,'' it is clearly delineated as a ''tribute,'' and has a statement that this is a project created by two artists calling ourselves ''the Beck & Thom Collaborative.'' Early in its inception we did not disclose that we were not the real musicians as we thought it was obvious that we were two women artists and that it was meant to be a parody. However after it became clear that people were mistaking us for the actual musicians we issued the aforementioned statement and made sure to include ''tribute'' in the subtitle of the page.

Issue:

We have maintained a strong fan base who is asking that our songs be made available for download. We would like to utilize the ''buy'' feature on the MySpace player. Would we face any legal repercussions for this distribution? All three songs we intend for sale are original compositions. They are in the ''style,'' of the artists Beck and Thom Yorke, but are our own creations and do not have any sampling etc from any copy written music by Beck and Thom Yorke.


Asked on 12/08/08, 9:01 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Johm Smith tom's

Re: Is MySpace distribution of ORIGINAL

We can't really give an opinion without charging you for the time to listen to your music and compare. But if you are correct that your songs and music is completely your own but still somehow reminiscent of the other group, then you might be fine selling your music. But those are some significant assumptions.

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Answered on 12/09/08, 12:26 pm


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