July 2017
The court case between the Plaintiffs – Laser Direct 2011 Ltd., K & L Willis vs the Defendants – APRA (NZ) Ltd and AMCOS (NZ) Ltd has been discontinued.
February 2016
An interesting article regarding copyright …and the Public Domain song “Happy Birthday to You”, Click Here to read.
PUBLIC WARNING:
1. Any person(s) / business that has been sold a licence from APRA / AMCOS / OneMusic to copy, replicate karaoke tracks (e.g. Casual Blanket Reproduction Licence), and believes they are legal to copy the karaoke tracks with this licence alone, they are not. Without permissions/licence from BOTH the writers (APRA/AMCOS) AND the karaoke producers, copying of karaoke tracks contravenes the Copyright Act.
2. Any venue – bar, cafe, club etc., that has been sold an APRA / AMCOS / OneMusic public performance licence for karaoke, believing they are legal with this licence alone for karaoke to be played at their venue, they are not. APRA/AMCOS/OneMusic collect public performance fees for the song writers (musical works) portion of the karaoke performance, but they do NOT have mandate to collect for the karaoke producers (karaoke recordings).
AKPA (NZ) Ltd – Australasian Karaoke Protection Authority has been set up to protect the karaoke industry, and to collect the karaoke producers portion of the karaoke public performance fee, which is then distributed to those producers signed with AKPA. www.akpa.co.nz
February 2013
Adams of Rotorua gets 4 months imprisonment for breaching the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 as it relates to Karaoke Music. Click on the Rotorua Daily Post link below for more details. Please share this message, as it includes all boundaries (below) with regard to infringement:
https://www.copyright.com.au/2013/02/jail-time-for-nz-copyright-infringement/
It is illegal (for home or commercial purpose) to:
1. Store and / or use karaoke discs that are not the legal original.. Store and / or use karaoke discs that are not the legal original.
2. Store and / or use karaoke songs on hard drive, SD Card, USB Stick etc without the original discs, or without the expressed permission from the copyright owners.
3. “Give away or sell or lend” karaoke songs, or “get given or buy or borrow” karaoke songs, when those songs are not accompanied by the original karaoke discs.
4. Copy karaoke discs or copy karaoke songs contained on harddrive, SD Card or any other storage media.
5. To transfer all your karaoke discs to harddrive and then sell or give away your karaoke discs.If you wish to transfer your karaoke discs / songs on to harddrive etc., you can, provided you get permission from the karaoke manufacturers (of those discs / songs) AND you keep your original discs once the transfer to media storage has been made AND you only transfer the songs to ONE storage device (keeping the originals on your premises).
6. Have several karaoke systems, with original legal discs pertaining to ONLY ONE system. For each karaoke system you have, you MUST have the original discs for EACH karaoke system. An example is…if you have say… 3 karaoke systems, each with their own harddrive, laptop etc….and karaoke songs loaded to each harddrive. Each of those systems must have their own original discs, then both the writers/composers AND the karaoke producers rights are being satisfied.
7. Have one set of original discs, with the songs loaded to more than 1 machine / harddrive etc, and think that paying AMCOS / APRA / One Music a fee makes you legal …IT DOES NOT. AMCOS / APRA / One Music have nothing to do with the producers rights of Karaoke songs / discs. The only jurisdiction they have is over the song writers, and more recently the producers of the original works, but NOT over karaoke works.
The only other ways that you could possibly have LEGAL karaoke songs (without the original discs) loaded to your drive or storage device, is if you have….yourself…..downloaded the karaoke songs from legitimate karaoke sites, for example karaoke songs to ONE storage device, and must keep your proof of purchase (invoice via email etc).
If you are unsure, as to whether your karaoke songs are legal or not please contact us for clarification.
14th April 2011
To view the Close Up Story on piracy CLICK HERE