printing lyrics

[JJM]

What is the name of your state? IN

I'm helping to put on a retreat and at it when a song is played off of a CD they usually print off copies of the lyrics so people can read them. Now I'm thinking this is some sort of infringing and I talked to the guy in charge about it. He insists that "(3) performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or of a dramatico-musical work of a religious nature, or display of a work, in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly;" http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110 gives us the right to do it because we are "displaying" the work. And we collect and recycle all of the pages after each song. I've said to him we have the right to display it but the way we are obtaining the copies is illegal. He simply disagrees with me. So before I press this further I was wondering if I was correct. And if I am, is there anything I can reference to help my cause? I realize it's not likely that we will be caught but if he is wrong we would be stealing between $100-$300 of print licenses, not that I'd be ok with stealing $.01 but this isn't some trifling issue.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? IN

I'm helping to put on a retreat and at it when a song is played off of a CD they usually print off copies of the lyrics so people can read them. Now I'm thinking this is some sort of infringing and I talked to the guy in charge about it. He insists that "(3) performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or of a dramatico-musical work of a religious nature, or display of a work, in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly;" http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110 gives us the right to do it because we are "displaying" the work. And we collect and recycle all of the pages after each song. I've said to him we have the right to display it but the way we are obtaining the copies is illegal. He simply disagrees with me. So before I press this further I was wondering if I was correct. And if I am, is there anything I can reference to help my cause? I realize it's not likely that we will be caught but if he is wrong we would be stealing between $100-$300 of print licenses, not that I'd be ok with stealing $.01 but this isn't some trifling issue.

Well, from a legal perspective, I'm not aware of any caselaw that directly discusses this particular subsection of the copyright code. I guess some questions that could arise is if the "retreat" is "in the course of services." Another issue could be if the musical works are not "of a religious nature" -- unfortunately, the wording of the clause doesn't make it clear whether all of the works described must be of a religious nature, or only if the dramitco-musical works have to be.

From a practical perspective, however, if you are printing out the lyrics and then recovering the copies and recycling them, then it seems quite unlikely that you would run in to any copyright trouble, regardless of whether you are exempt from liability under 17 USC 110 or not.

If you want to make 100% sure, contact the Harry Fox Agency, and ask them if you need a license of not. They will probably say yes, since that's there job -- to sell licenses -- but you never know, maybe they will be straight with you, and only tell you yes if you truely do need a license. You could also contact a local attorney, who can review all of the songs you plan to sing, all of the facts surrounding your retreat, and can anlayze this information in light of any caselaw research turns up, and advise you accordingly.