There are several misconceptions about copyright laws and to whom they apply. The simplest explanation of copyright law I have heard is:

“Any act taken to avoid purchase of copyrighted material can be construed as a violation of copyright.”

This statement was made at a seminar on copyright law given by the head of the law firm that represents Hinshaw Publishing, a major choral publisher. Notice that nothing is mentioned about copies for a non-profit organization (churches, schools, etc.) or that are made for personal use, not resale.

Here are some examples of acts taken to avoid purchase:

• "I own copies of this piece for my choir, but if I hand them out, they will get worn out, so I make photocopies and keep the originals in the drawer."
• "My copy is getting so old and worn-out that I don’t want to use it anymore, so I made a photocopy."
• "This piece is available only in collection. I don't want my student to have to buy the whole book, so I just made a copy."

Another common misconception regards the definition of "out-of-print." There are two types of out-of-print: permanently out-of-print (POP) and temporarily out-of-print (TOP).

POP means that the publisher has decided not to reprint the piece in the foreseeable future. This is a decision made based on sales volume. If the piece in question has not generated enough sales to warrant reprinting, it will be put out-of-print.

TOP means that the publisher is out of copies of the piece currently, but has not decided to put it permanently out-of-print. This could happen with a very popular piece of music that has sold out of its first print run, or it could happen with a piece that has been around for a long time, but sales have dropped and the publisher is waiting to see if there is enough interest to warrant another print run.

In either case, "out-of-print" does not mean that the copyright holder has given up their rights. Someone probably still owns the rights to the piece and only that person or company can grant permission to copy. The consumer must contact the publisher of record for rights to copy.

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