Where Did The Guitar Tabs Go?

[kent_eh]

So, if an organization based in the USA actually tried to sue GN and/or Paul (as opposed to threatening to sue, as has happened so far) then in order to defend himself he'll have to travel from wherever in Asia he is at the moment, to the USA?

That sounds a bit punitive before the fight has even started.

[rparker]

So, if an organization based in the USA actually tried to sue GN and/or Paul (as opposed to threatening to sue, as has happened so far) then in order to defend himself he'll have to travel from wherever in Asia he is at the moment, to the USA?

That sounds a bit punitive before the fight has even started.

If he had property & investments here he wanted to protect, he would have to make the trip. Else, he would have to be extradited to follow a court order to appear.

And of course, I bet it's ton more complicated than I just said.

I wonder if this promise of legal action (the threat currently going on) has actually done any good as far as bringing two parties together in negotiation sessions.

[Staffan]

That´s all interesting legal comments... seems like it´s a complete jungle out there, and to try to sort it out... well, let´s just say I´m glad I´m no lawyer (for several reasons)

Still, I would very much like to hear from the site owners/administrators (Paul/David) what´s currently happening with this issue. Are you making any progress what so ever in terms of getting closer to be able to "free up the tabs for the masses" once more?

Sure hope this thing will work out, but I have to tell you that - the more I read about all this legal stuff, the less hopefull I get. Why, oh why, did god invent lawyers and why must they focus their ill-will onto the beautiful, free internet?

/Staffanovic

[Ricochet]

Who said God invented lawyers?

[Laz]

I'm fairly sure that Paul can affirm the lack of profits

Other than that, I think NoteBoat has some good ideas. Forming a non-profit would be simple enough, even with an international board. Lessons with snippets from several songs to demonstrate techniques would fit with our style, though some readers will complain about them being "incomplete".

Don't assume that silence from the GN leadership means that nothing is going on. But I don't know anything about these machinations either.

[Guitar Noise]

I've been following the comments and discussion so far. Some of the suggestions have been really helpful.

I haven't had much to add because I don't have any substantial progress to report.

Getting permission to use tabs and or lyrics with the publisher's consent is a complicated matter. There isn't any blanket license that would allow us to choose any song. A separate agreement is necessary with each different publisher. It's still taking time to find out who owns what and how to get a hold of them through the right channels. I would like to try negotiating deals with the publishers first and avoid more confrontational measures if possible.

As you can imagine this is something that won't be settled next week or even next month. You can be sure that if something happens you'll hear about it here first.

I'll keep you posted.

[tinsmith]

Who said God invented lawyers?

I think they were meant as a B.M.

[Glorfindel]

I don't know exactly how it works legally, but I believe you can be held responsible under the laws of where you reside, and where your server resides. As far as the threat letters, they seemingly don't have to be legitimate at all. Its common for them to send out letters regarding stuff they don't even have rights to, or can't legally follow up on. In the case of Viacom vs. Youtube/Google, they were even suing partially for videos that the company had uploaded itself for the purpose of viral marketing. (http://www.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/03/media-morning-the-juicy-details-behind-the-viacom-youtube-lawsuit/1) The whole thing is more of a scare tactic than anything else, and it works because if one of those massive companies really targets you, there isn't much you can do.

[kent_eh]

I don't know exactly how it works legally, but I believe you can be held responsible under the laws of where you reside, and where your server resides. As far as the threat letters, they seemingly don't have to be legitimate at all.
......
The whole thing is more of a scare tactic than anything else, and it works because if one of those massive companies really targets you, there isn't much you can do.

You mean like this?

[Staffan]

Who said God invented lawyers?

I did - read my post again

Seriously though, thank you "Guitar Noise" for the feedback on the matter at hand. I know you´ll keep us posted as soon as there´s any real progress (but I had to ask anyway).

Good luck to you!

/Staffan

[Ricochet]

I was taking issue with it. Don't blame God for them!

[Nuno]

There is another post in which a member asks for the graphics files in the pages. As I mainly read the general and theory lessons I have not seen the new "look"...

It is really sad... I don't know how to express the idea in English words but what is really the problem? There are 30 or 40 songs commented and explained. That is a lot of work by David and Paul mainly but there are also other contributors. But they are only 30 or 40 songs!

Really I can not understand it. You can download every thing from the internet. You can download the latest films with DVD quality (and sometimes before to the official launching) and whole discographies in one archive and it can not be fixed because the servers are in several countries or several other "technical" reasons.

However, when somebody works on something and adds a "new value" that helps to many people around the world, it is not a verbatim or illegal copy, the web pages have to be removed or the YouTube accounts have to be cancelled (Justin Sandercoe, MarloweDK, recently Mike "Ukelele" Lynch, and so on).

There is something wrong...

Anyway... let's play our instruments...

[Staffan]

I was taking issue with it. Don't blame God for them!

I see what you mean, and you´re right; lawyers couldn´t be Gods creation... there´s something much more diabolic at work here

[Staffan]

I agree with you "Nuno" - this is inexplicable! But, as some of the earlier posts have suggested; there probably wouldn´t even be a problem if GN choose to leave the tabs on the site! I bet no follow up will be performed and that it´s just a scare tactic. But most people won´t take the chance - for obivous reasons - and therefore it gets the desired effect.

But what I can´t understand is why sites like Ultimate-guitar.com is still packed - and I mean packed - with THOUSANDS of tabs - what´s the deal with that, anybody know? Have they just disregarded the claim to remove the tabs, or perhaps they haven´t even been targeted? Now, I could understand how a site like that would be threatened with legal actions, but GN - come on!

But why not juat host the site abroad somewhere - out of reach of these people? This is such a ridiculous "law" that it would be OK to circle around it, I think.

[tinsmith]

Speaking for myself, Tabs were never an issue in this place. I never went searching for tabs HERE.
There's so much more to this place than tabs.
Interesting conversation; like major blah & minor blahh.