Who owns a tune? The customer or the tuner?

[ez76]

Much has been made in recent years about the music industry's move to recast the songs that artists write as "works for hire", in an effort to pre-empt any ownership claim or right-to-reuse that might arise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_made_for_hire

So, absent any contract with explicit wording about who retains ownership, who owns a tune? The customer or the tuner?

[anjapower]

I talked with my father about this. He is a patent attorney - his bread and butter is intellectual property. I described him the nature of "tunes" and explained that there was no contract written, verbal or implied associated with the tune that people receive.

The jist of what he said is that the tuner owns the tune - BUT - and this is a big but - if there is no copyright or such provision protecting the work, then it will be really tough for the tuner to prove that the work is his, his argument would no hold up in a court of law and the customer can essentially do as he pleases.

[Robbi Laurenson]

I'd say it all depends on what you negotiate up front. By default the tuner should own it.

[ohio-evo]

How many tuners do you think will be willing to do email flashes or flashes in general if there bussiness is affected by people reselling or giving away there maps. If this becomes a problem the only tuning will be on expensive ecu's like aem and so on so it is our best interest to protect what we pay for and what the tuner creates for the paying user. Just my .02 Let's not ruin a good thing.

[MalibuJack]

regardless of the legal ramifications (It does fall under contracted work for hire unless negotiated otherwise) Its still wise to give the tuner the courtesy of not sharing his tunes with others..

Another issue is when you alter a tuners tune.. You've created a derivative work which can fall under a different set of rules...

[scorke]

Well put Jack.

We are paying the tuner for there service, once we have recieved whatever they have given us I believe it is up to the end user to decide what he/she does with it, if he/she decides to share it, oh well, they paid full and well for it, that should be the individual's call.



Scorke

[sir lurks alot]

Look at it like music. You change a few notes and it isn't the same music anymore therefore you can use it as you please.

[MalibuJack]

Please keep in mind that the decision has been made on EvoM to respect the tuner and not allow posting/distribution of a tuner's tune.. Although I'm not in any way affiliated with EvoM, I did participate in the discussion and felt that this was an appropriate courtesy for the tuners who participate in the forums.

[scorke]

Not allowed on the forums, which means you can PM somebody, ask for there tune, and if the oblige they can email it right to you and you can have it in your ecu in a couple of minutes....But yes Malibu, it cannot happen on the forums....

Scorke

[MalibuJack]

Originally Posted by sir lurks alot

Look at it like music. You change a few notes and it isn't the same music anymore therefore you can use it as you please.

That falls under something somewhat different issue.. Performance and sampling.. Sampling was clearly deemed a derivative work...

[MalibuJack]

Originally Posted by scorke

Not allowed on the forums, which means you can PM somebody, ask for there tune, and if the oblige they can email it right to you and you can have it in your ecu in a couple of minutes....But yes Malibu, it cannot happen on the forums....

Scorke

Well yeah, and you can share all the street racing videos you like, etc.. But its outside the scope of the forums.. It really seems more like just a courtesy, there have been several occasions where someone has e-mailed me a map to look at.. and I rarely asked where it originated from since I don't particularly care and I don't save them..

I have my opinions of some tunes, but that is my own personal expert opinion and do not comment on them publicly.

[Spooldyou]

It's one thing if you share your own tune that you made from scratch, But sharing a tune from a professional tuner just isnt Right and you know it. By tuning your car there trusting you with Infomation that Runs there Businesss. What would happen is Everyone was running around with AMS GT35r 2.3L tune?

What If someone stole your girlfriend. She's not copyrighted Or patended to you. Right?

[DCSilvrEvo]

Originally Posted by MalibuJack

That falls under something somewhat different issue.. Performance and sampling.. Sampling was clearly deemed a derivative work...

Kinda but its really the same thing. I record music all the time on bass. Please love taking orignal songs and changing chords or melodies around to bypass copyrights and stuff. BUT if you want to use somebodies song and put different lyrics to it then you have to pay BIG money especially if you are making money off of that track. So its a lil different but the same deal.

[dexmix]

Ethics aside, according to the law the tune is the customers, unless you sign a contract stating otherwise.

Its definately not ethical to however go around and give away your tune. Thats just common sense...

[dudical26]

What if you bought a tune, say one of the E-flashes, but then you sold your car, if you are no longer using the tune do you have the right to sell it?