Discussion:
What is the name of your state? SC
Last year my group released a CD that included cover tunes. We used accompaniment trax that we purchased. To date, we've distributed less than 100 copies of the CD. To my horror, we have now realized that 3 of the trax are unlicensable (ie, we cannot purchase a Master Use License to record). My first mistake was not taking care of the copyrights before we released the CD. My second mistake was assuming that all accompaniment trax could be licensed for recording. Needless to say, I've learned a big lesson.
My questions are: Now that we've realized we have sold CDs with unlicensable material, what should we do? Who do we contact? What should we expect our liability would be? BTW, we no longer distribute the CD in question, and we are asking the folks that we know who purchased the CD to return it in exchange for a new CD we've created (with all permissions & licenses granted).
Thanks for any advice and help you can offer.
Answer:
What is the name of your state? SC
Last year my group released a CD that included cover tunes. We used accompaniment trax that we purchased. To date, we've distributed less than 100 copies of the CD. To my horror, we have now realized that 3 of the trax are unlicensable (ie, we cannot purchase a Master Use License to record). My first mistake was not taking care of the copyrights before we released the CD. My second mistake was assuming that all accompaniment trax could be licensed for recording. Needless to say, I've learned a big lesson.
My questions are: Now that we've realized we have sold CDs with unlicensable material, what should we do? Who do we contact? What should we expect our liability would be? BTW, we no longer distribute the CD in question, and we are asking the folks that we know who purchased the CD to return it in exchange for a new CD we've created (with all permissions & licenses granted).
Thanks for any advice and help you can offer. What should you do? Probably nothing more than you are already doing. Document everything, how you are trying to undo your mistake, and that's about it. If the copyright owners want to sue you for infringement, they will, and they can regardless of what remedial measures you take, so you are likely best off just trying to get all of the infringing materials off the marketplace, and selling the legal versions. Basically, if they don't know you are infringing now, why let them know? Let them figure it out. You are doing the right thing.