What's copyright and why do I need to have it?

You can't steal, borrow or use other peoples media (music, video, artwork) without their permission. For example, if you want to have a Whitney Houston track on your disc, you had better get permission from the publisher- otherwise this is called COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, and it's illegal. You can get sued, and probably will, but we'll be sued first. The law says that replicators (the plant) are responsible for copyright protection, and if we manufacture a title with copyright infringement, we get heavily fined, closed down, equipment carted off, and doors chained closed. No kidding about this. It's our necks on the line, and so we take this very seriously.

If you have created the media, and not included anyone else's software, video, music, artwork etc, then you own the copyright.

Titles are always checked- you will be required to submit content listing, and copyright documentation- this is part of the IRMA anti piracy practices (that also protect your title from being illegally copied & distributed).

IRMA
ANTI PIRACY

www.recordingmedia.org/antipiracy.html

The International Recording Media Association is proud to have established the world's first Anti-Piracy Certification/Compliance Program for the manufacture of CDs, DVDs and CD-ROMs. This initiative is designed to help manufacturing plants establish procedures to reduce the risk of publishing pirated material.

IRMA's Anti-Piracy Compliance Program is modeled after the ISO 9000 Program, which is a series of generic international standards for quality management and quality assurance. Unlike ISO 9000, however, the IRMA Anti-Piracy Compliance Program contains specific guidelines for the optical media industry regarding anti-piracy. Through internal audits and regularly scheduled surveillance audits, the IRMA Anti-Piracy Compliance Program is able to uphold the standards for self-regulation required by today's customers.

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Megalodon is a proud participant in IRMA programs, with every disc replication order, you will be asked to fill out copyright forms to prove that you have the right to replicate your title & artwork. If you are the creator of the title, this is straightforward. If you have clip of other’s media (video, music, software) including Adobe Reader, QT, or browsers, you will need to provide paperwork. For some of these more common items, we have the links for you to obtain permission. Copyright violation results in the plant being shut down and equipment seized, so we DO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY.  Any title found to have copyright violation will be reported.

 
If you are intentionally trying to produce an illegal title with copyright infringement, you do not want to put it through Megalodon as we will confiscate your project and report you to all involved entities. But 99.8% of titles are not in this category…please bear with these anti-piracy measures. It may protect your title one day! IRMA certification requires very strict audits and practices. It’s hard work to comply with for us all.

Obtaining Copyright

Who owns Copyright?
 
 
BMI
 212 586 2000
www.bmi.com

ASCAP
212 621 6160
www.ascap.com

SESAC
800 826 9996
www.sesac.com

RIAA
800 223 2328
www.riaa.com

Flat Rate per song:
  Harry Fox Agency
http://www.harryfox.com/
212 370 5030
Mechanical Licensing
Digital Licensing
International Monitoring
Royalty Compliance
Royalty Collections & Distributions

www.nmpa.org/hfa.html
For non profit groups:
 
 
Volunteer Lawyers
for the Arts
215 370 5030
 

Adobe Reader

http://www.adobe.com

(Standard paperwork to distribute readers- required but easy)

Browsers

(Standard paperwork to distribute readers- required but easy)

Macromedia Logo

http://www.macromedia.com

Depending on the current policy, sometimes they want the product registered.

Harry Fox Agency

Flat Rate per song:
http://www.harryfox.com/
212 370 5030

Mechanical Licensing
Digital Licensing
International Monitoring
Royalty Compliance
Royalty Collections & Distributions

CD & DVD Royalty & Phillips Consortium

CD & DVD Royalty & Phillips Consortium
Did you know that all plants have to pay royalties to the consortium for cds & dvds? It's a significant part of the manufacturing cost. If you locate a plant with extremely low pricing, you might want to investigate if they are paying royalties. If they are not, you, ultimately will be responsible for them!

We have full documents on file to prove that we pay these.