Notes
on copyright
Authors'
copyright may be infringed when unauthorised use is made of words or music -
and for music, this applies to any method by which copies are made,
including midi files. This hymn site operates almost entirely on midi
files which are very small and, of all music files, take up very little
space in total.
Copyright does not have to be claimed - it is an automatic right by which
copies may be made only with permission of the copyright holder. This
applies to all original work, and lasts for a period of 70 years [UK] after
the death of the original writer or composer.
The hymns which are excluded from these web pages comprise those 26 to 30
(approx) items in the Christadelphian Hymn Book 2002 which are subject to
extant 'external' copyright. In many cases, the copyright is held by a "Copyright
Manager" whose sole interest is to ensure that payment is made for any
publication of the works involved. In many cases this payment may be
substantial, and penalties for avoiding this payment may be severe.
Following on from this, every published hymn is automatically subject to
copyright law. To avoid this situation, writers and composers would have to
specifically place their works in the 'public domain', or publish them
anonymously. Brethren and Sisters write hymns and compose hymn music so that
others may be helped to worship God. No profit of any kind is sought, nor,
in most cases, is there any deliberate intention to invoke copyright. For
this reason, hymns written or composed by Christadelphians have been placed
on this Hymn Site, and we gratefully acknowledge their work. We do not
believe that they would seek to prevent open worship, but if any feel
strongly that their work is being abused, or even simply misused, would they
please contact the email address on the main Hymn Index page. They
have our absolute assurance that in the event of this happening, the words
and / or music would be removed from the site immediately.