The reason I am writing this thread is to show the possible far reaching implications of the Stop Online Piracy Act(SOPA). It will be short, but
hopefully help get the point across.
The first thing I'm going to do is post a song that I produced with the song that copied it. My song will be first and the offending song will be
second.
Get Down:
Ne-yo - One In A Million
As you can tell the drum pattern was copied from my song "Get Down" almost exactly for Ne Yo's song - One in a Million (Starts at 0:26).
How SOPA could be used against me:
While I have the copyright registration that proves my song was registered a whole month before the offending song was published, the copyright holder
could file a complaint against me and have all my sites blocked for infringing upon their copyrights before any investigation took place. In order for
me to rectify this situation I would have to sue the copyright holder that actually infringed upon my copyright to prove that I'm legally able to
make my song available. I talked to a lawyer about pursuing this action in court and a copyright lawsuit could cost me upwards of 50,000 dollars
US.
This could span across into software, games, movies, drawings and paintings, etc. then comes trademarks, patents, etc. the implications go on and on
and on. SOPA would give the power to conglomerates to put their competition out of business cheaply and effectively. While their competition may not
have the resources to defend themselves to have the blocks removed.
Hopefully this helps put into perspective how SOPA goes too far. Piracy is an issue, but it is an issue that needs to be addressed correctly.
SOPA isn't really about piracy or child pornography, it's about restricting and regulating the internet. The illusion of profits lost to piracy,
coupled with child pornography, offer an easy to digest justification for the fascist takeover of the internet.
Also I would like to bump this thread up to say all information can be verified on the copyright.gov website. I won't post my copyright numbers here
because they contain personal information that I prefer not to post on this site.
I will gladly share the copyright numbers in a PM to the owners if you would like to verify this information.