Well, this has been a very interesting thread, and has certainly increased my understanding of copyright law with regard to songs, tunes etc. I must admit I have a fundamental problem with the concept of copyright. I agree with the point made above by Gargoyle, and very early on by Dick. Intellectual "property" is an oxymoron whatever the law says. I'm sure it is not universal, but in many of the fields of endeavour that interest me, it is not the progenitor of an idea, concept, etc who gain from its commercial exploitation. The obvious case in point being the "Windows" style computer interface, virtually everyone knows of Mr Gates and his fortune, but I doubt if many know of the development of the concept at PARC by Xerox.

So far as I am concerned, the greatest compliment that can be paid to a song is to have it absorbed into an oral tradition, and I find it incongrous that in a forum populated by folk music afficienados we are debating the merits of copyright. If you are trying to make a living from songwriting, that's different of course, but is it folk? :-)

Pete M