IMSLP Forums

Dear all!

I am a composer and just discovered that a company named "Noten Roehr" is selling three of the compositions I uploaded to IMSLP without my permission. See here: https://www.noten-roehr.de/de/search.ph ... niel+cueto

Does anyone here know about this company, and are they selling other copyright-protected music downloaded from IMSLP? What can be done in a case like this to enforce my copyright and stop the publisher from collecting my royalties illegally?

Any leads are appreciated. Thank you!

Daniel Cueto
www.danielcueto.com

Ok since you did upload your works under a non-commercial license, you do have the rights to bring a class action lawsuit against the website selling your works without your permission. You can try to send a cease and desist order to the website or then try to get a online lawyer to help you out with this case if they refuse. I would highly suggest you work on this with haste if you don't want more time to go by with your works up on there without your permission!

This is not the type of thing covered by a 'class-action' suit, but a copyright infringement suit. One of the peculiarities of the CC license is that it expires instantly upon violation of its terms by an end user. So when Noten Roehr started offering the item in question for sale they killed the CC license under which they downloaded (copied) the work, which has the net effect of leaving them open for a full-bore infringement action. Last I checked this was at 250,000 USD per offense. Lack of notice is not in play here. They can't plead ignorance as the notice was clearly present on the IMSLP page - though it does bolster one's case if it is present in the PDF file itself as well. A cease-and-desist letter with an attorney's name on it mentioning they are liable for copyright infringement might be the least expensive way to persuade them they should stop this activity at once.