This is my understanding, but is not binding legal advice. To get that you either pay someone who is insured in case what they tell you is wrong, or you ask the Supreme Court.
Is it legal to copy and trade sheet music online.
If you trade the actual physical book or leaflet that you legally acquired, then yes I'm sure that is legal. (unless you stole it or the book itself was pirated)
Anything that is copied (including sharing of a digital file). Then no, not without permission.
The word
copyright is a very simple well defined word that means exactly what it say on the tin: the
right to make a copy. You would only have that right on something that does not already have one, ie if it is in the public domain.
So generally my understanding is that it would not be legal to sell a photcopy or a digital scan, or redistribute (share) a digital file you bought or licensed. By
generally, I mean unless you have specific permission to do so (which is unlikely unless you ask for it or have a blanket licence to do so).
Notwithstanding (had to chuck in a legal sounding word) there is such a thing as
fair use, but usually that only applies to news items and educational use which involves just a small excerpt. (And
educational use does not mean that somebody may learn something from it by you posting it on the internet, it means used in a bona fide educational establishment).
if I write an horn arrangement or a sax solo with the official sheet music as a ground, is it still legal to trade and sell?
Guess so if its changed...@petethomas will probably know more..
I'm not sure what is meant by "as a ground" . In most cases the copyright is in the melody. So you could publish just a chord sequence and, if the arrangement was 100% original horn lines and none of the lead melody, then I would assume that is fine.
But if, say ,you published an arrangement of Mustang Sally only for horns, and it was a transcription of the original horn parts, then to be honest I'm not 100% sure because often such things are decided in court.
There have been test cases I think where for example the judge or jury decided if what was claimed to just be part of the arrangement (as opposed to the melody) was a significant "hook" and so was a copyright infringement. It is very complex.
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