I signed an agreement with a company for distribution in South Korea and Japan. I found out today they are selling to several other countries including the US and their agreement expired last year. They are selling on Amazon and Ebay in those other countries and performing distribution to whole sellers in the US. What action should or can I take to get them removed from both Amazon and Ebay and is it possible to get the royalties due? The company that's doing the piracy in located in South Korea. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Luckily, Amazon and eBay are not located in South Korea. I would not focus on getting this company to stop, but rather focus on getting Amazon and eBay to remove your copyright property and cut off the account for this rouge company. If you contact Amazon and eBay let them know that you have a valid copyright and that your copyright is being infringed and demand that they take action to remove the infringing work in compliance with the DMCA. This should get them to take action. They have immunity from a lawsuit for copyright infringement in this situation, but they do need to take action to prevent infringement or they will lose that immunity. eBay is usually pretty responsive, and I suspect Amazon is as well. Good luck. -Gene
Gene, Thanks for the response. The agreement expired last year and I want to contract legal help in Japan, South Korea, and Germany, and Malaysia because I have a feeling that the music is also being retailed in stores. If anyone can give me a lead on someone that handles these kind of things that would be great. I saw a couple of users on Amazon that are from the US and wondering the best way to get their contact/address. The label called Bella Terra is is doing the publishing and the first one who has contact details for these guys, I will paypal 20 bucks to you. Gene if you know of an example DCMA notice or can refer me to a site, I would really appreciate it. Rodder <<<----- Becoming an attack dog!!!! Grrrrrrrrrr!!!
Are you a member of ASCAP or BMI? If so I would contact them. Even you aren't I would try to contact them and ask how they deal with this type of issue.
What kind of contract was signed? Did the contract allow them to press copies of your album or did you send them bulk orders pressed by you? If they pressed the albums I believe they are still able to sell the remainder of the copies they have if there are any left overs. If they keep making copies of your album after the contract/remaining copies are done and gone, then I believe there is a serious problem. I am very interested in this issue becuase I am also a musician. I will look around and see what kind of laws/actions can be used to protect you.
Hi Rodder, eBay has the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program. It's easy to register for, and once done all listings you report as selling your content will be removed. I can't remember the links, so a quick google will take you there. Regards, Elliott