Tập Nhạc
Open the app

Copyright policy

Tập Nhạc respects other people's work. Importing a score to practise on your own device is private. Sharing a score with others needs the right to do so. This page draws that line and explains what we do when a rights holder reports an infringement.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. The service is run by an individual in Vietnam and is governed by Vietnamese law.

Legal basis

We rely on the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 (amended 2009, 2019, 2022 and 2025), Decree 17/2023/ND-CP guiding copyright and related rights, the Penal Code 2015 (Article 225, commercial-scale infringement), and the Berne Convention, of which Vietnam is a member. Thanks to Berne, foreign works are protected here too.

Copyright arises when a work is created and fixed. No registration or © notice is needed. A score with no license shown can still be protected: "no license shown" never means "free to use". Notes and lyrics are both protected, so a MusicXML or MIDI file of a modern song is a copy of the work. An arrangement, transcription or adaptation also needs the permission of the original's owner, even if you wrote every note yourself.

What you may do

  • Import for private practice. Files you import stay on your device. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is distributed. This is personal, non-commercial study. We do not check the content and we do not claim it is licensed.
  • Cloud backup. Visible only to your own account, never shown to others.
  • Public or unlisted sharing (share links, embeds, pieces in a class). This is communication to the public, so only the rights holder or someone licensed should publish.
  • Class assignments. Handing a piece to a class is limited teaching use, but a teacher must still hold the rights to what they publish.

Public sharing is not "personal use". If you are not sure you have the right, keep the score private.

The uploader statement

When you publish a score you pick a license and confirm that you:

  • are the author or arranger, or the rights holder, or hold written permission, or the work is in the public domain; and
  • keep the original composer, arranger and lyricist credits; and
  • chose a license that matches the facts (cc-by, cc-by-sa, cc0 or public-domain only if you can truly grant it); and
  • understand that Tập Nhạc may remove the share on a valid notice, and that a false claim makes you liable, not Tập Nhạc.

The default license is "all rights reserved", and with it you state that you hold the rights needed. Authorship credit is a moral right: never strip a composer's name or present another person's work as your own.

The public-domain rule

Vietnamese law protects music for the life of the author plus 50 years (counted from 1 January after death). Our readers and caches are worldwide, and many countries use life plus 70. So we use a stricter line: the public-domain label is allowed only when the composer died before 1 January 1956 (the cutoff moves forward one year each 1 January). You must also name the source edition.

A new engraving of an old piece may carry its own license for the new layout only if it shows real original work (arrangement, editing). A bare copy or scan of a protected modern edition is not public domain. Works by unknown or anonymous authors are protected for 50 years from first publication; do not label them public domain without a documented source.

Reporting an infringement

If you are a rights holder, an agent or a collecting society (such as VCPMC) and you find a share that infringes your work, use the Report button on that shared page. A complete notice contains:

  • your name and contact details;
  • the work and proof that you own it or are authorised to act for the owner;
  • the URL of each share concerned;
  • a statement that the use is unauthorised and that the notice is accurate;
  • your signature (a typed name is fine).

How we handle it

  1. We acknowledge your report within 2 business days.
  2. If the notice is complete and the share is plainly the work, we hide or remove the share, delete the stored file and tell the uploader why. The target is within 24 hours of a complete notice, and immediately for a court or authority order.
  3. The uploader may send a counter-notice stating their rights, license or an exception. We forward it to you. If you do not file a complaint with a competent authority or court within 14 days, we may restore the share. If a case is filed, the share stays down until the authority decides.
  4. Incomplete or abusive notices: we ask for what is missing and do not remove.
  5. Three valid takedowns on one account end its public sharing; serious or commercial abuse ends the account.
  6. We comply with lawful requests from Vietnamese authorities and keep the record.

A knowingly false notice may make its sender liable under the law.

Our content and yours

  • The app's code, interface copy and original art belong to the Tập Nhạc project. Third-party assets such as fonts and soundfonts keep their own licenses, which sit next to the files.
  • Scores bundled in the app are original, public domain, or CC0 or CC BY with credit.
  • Your published content stays yours. By publishing, you grant Tập Nhạc a non-exclusive, worldwide license to host, display, play and cache it as you ask, until you unpublish. No other use, and we do not train models on your scores.
  • Compose with Claude produces a draft. You are responsible for not reproducing protected works.

Personal data in notices

The record of notices holds reporters' names and contact details. We keep it private and only as long as needed for disputes. See also Privacy.