So a few years ago I heard an acapella version of Pachelbel's Canon that was attributed to The Brown Derbies. Well, it turn out that they never actually sang Pachelbel's Canon.
So let's say person A downloads the acapella version of Pachelbel's Canon, thinking he's simply stealing from The Brown Derbies. Then, for some reason, somebody has person A arrested and his computer searched for illegal music (make up a justification - I don't care; this is hypothetical anyway). The authorities find this file but can't figure out who actually sang it (after all, there must be quite a few acapella versions of Pachelbel's Canon). What happens then? Nobody knows who sang it or who is owed reparations, so how do they punish him? They can't, can they? Unless they can prove that this specific performance of Pachelbel's Canon wasn't released into the public domain, person A gets off scott free, doesn't he?
So let's say person A downloads the acapella version of Pachelbel's Canon, thinking he's simply stealing from The Brown Derbies. Then, for some reason, somebody has person A arrested and his computer searched for illegal music (make up a justification - I don't care; this is hypothetical anyway). The authorities find this file but can't figure out who actually sang it (after all, there must be quite a few acapella versions of Pachelbel's Canon). What happens then? Nobody knows who sang it or who is owed reparations, so how do they punish him? They can't, can they? Unless they can prove that this specific performance of Pachelbel's Canon wasn't released into the public domain, person A gets off scott free, doesn't he?
