Technocrat

Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar

Altacus
Thu Nov 09 06:38:15 -0800 2006
About+Technocrat.net.
manage

A 73 year old man was arrested for playing copyrighted songs in a bar on his harmonica.   Does this interpretation of copyright exceed the boundaries of the definition?  Or is Mr. Toyoda stretching fair use?

Text of article

Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar

A 73-year-old bar manager who illegally performed copyrighted tunes by the Beatles and other artists on the harmonica was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating the Copyright Law, police said.

Arrested was Masami Toyoda, of Tokyo's Nerima-ku. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations against him.

Investigators accuse Toyoda of illegally performing 33 songs such as the Beatles' songs "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Yesterday," whose copyrights are managed by the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers. He allegedly performed the songs on the harmonica with a female pianist at the bar he operated between August and September this year.

Officials said the society sought a provisional injunction against Toyoda in 2001 because he had repeatedly performed copyrighted songs in the past without permission, and the Tokyo District Court granted the injunction.

The society filed a criminal complaint against him in September this year because he later kept playing copyrighted songs. (Mainichi)

Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
Charles E Hill
Thu Nov 09 08:50:02 -0800 2006
 manage
What amazes me is that copyright infringement is a criminal matter and not a civil one.  I find it hard to justify arresting someone for this.  If they really think this guy is the scourge of the Tokyo Harmonica district, just sue him.

I guess they just couldn't let the RIAA out do them.
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
Matt Burstein
Thu Nov 09 09:07:36 -0800 2006
 manage
I, for one, feel considerably safer now that this man has been taken of the streets.
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
Peter
Thu Nov 09 10:33:26 -0800 2006
 manage
Back in the day, when everyone was singing Dylan's songs better than he did...didn't they call this "a cover"?  It seems like this used to be a great part of the music industry.  People would name their influences and sing tributes without fear of prosecution.

It's sad to see those times gone.  In the 60's it was "Make Love, Not War".  Maybe we should upgrade our bumper stickers to "Make Money, Not Art".
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
3dkiwi
Thu Nov 09 11:57:50 -0800 2006
 manage
> Maybe we should upgrade our bumper stickers to "Make Money, Not Art".

It might not be a bumper sticker yet, but I reckon it is on a plaque on the wall behind a music executive's desk somewhere...
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
President4242
Thu Nov 09 13:08:29 -0800 2006
 manage
Dylan and Guthrie understood copyright better than the record companies do.  Unfortuneately they also understood it better than the later claimants to their work through their estates- as, for instance, JibJab found out in the 2004 Presidential Parody despite there being more parodies of that song than you can shake a stick at.
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
duhavid
Thu Nov 09 16:59:48 -0800 2006
 manage
"Make Money, Not Art"

Copyrighted.  Our lawyer will be in touch with your lawyer.

the law, made by and for the power & money grubbing dirtbags

rubycodez
Thu Nov 09 13:41:46 -0800 2006
 manage
surprised?  if your five year old reads from a story book to a public audience, he or she is in violation of copyright law, but not if done to a classroom. 
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
Simon Rosenqvist
Thu Nov 09 16:19:07 -0800 2006
 manage
The immaterial rights are absurd. Ideas are not property!

It's these kind of things that made me join the Swedish Pirate Party, sure we only got 0.60% of the votes in last elections, but next time there will be alot more of us file-sharers around. The world can't monopolize thoughts.
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
Peter
Thu Nov 09 17:12:43 -0800 2006
 manage
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're Pirates right?  Can't you just steal the election?  I can point you to some GOP campaign coordinators over here that can give you their HowTo.
Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
Simon Rosenqvist
Thu Nov 09 17:15:09 -0800 2006
 manage

Yeah, but we are kind pirates :-)

We could copy it though.
 

Do you have questions about the site? Write to bruce at perens.com . List of all articles we've ever published. Source Code Developer's Documentation RSS XML Sitemap XML News Sitemap Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict Valid CSS! [Valid RSS]