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What is Proof of Music Ownership?

scottsk asks: "What is proof of music ownership? I can't find a good answer anywhere. Let's assume some random person is hauled into court allegedly for having music that he has not legitimately bought. What must that person produce to prove the music was purchased legitimately? Is producing an original commercially sold CD with the music acceptable, or is some further proof of purchase needed (cash register receipt, cancelled check, etc.)? What if a person has digitized a commercial cassette, like digitizing a photo? Must the person carry the cassette around forever, or is just the cassette insert sufficient? (What about an LP record that has been digitized?)" Now, what happens if you've lost all of your property in a fire, but still had an off-site digital backup of your legally purchased music somewhere? Does the loss of the original property invalidate the legality of the backups?

3 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. The truth of the matter... by Fyre2012 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...is that we really don't own anything.

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    This is not the greatest .sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
  2. What is Proof of Music Ownership? by John+Hasler · · Score: 5, Informative

    > What is proof of music ownership?

    Copyright registration in your name.

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    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  3. What happened with implied innocence? by Vo0k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What happened to "Innocent until proven guilty"?
    Why do -I- have to prove the mp3 in my mp3 player is legal? Why can't my word suffice? Shouldn't RIAA have to prove I obtained it illegally?
    They say I got it from p2p. I say I ripped it off a legal CD I misplaced later. Until they -prove- I actually downloaded it from p2p I should be innocent, shouldn't I?

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