To the original poster:
 
I have transferred all kinds of midi files to and from multiple computers over a period of many years, many midi files of which were either created or edited in Sonar, and I have never ever had to deal with any copyright protection error messages.
 
In fact, I have a current project I am working on with a remote guitar player, and I transfer all kinds of midi files back and forth from my computer to his, and his to mine, and they all export/import/playback just fine.
 
I am not at all suggesting you are not seeing a problem, I just don't seem to encounter that one, and that is why I would like you to explain more about why you believe Sonar is adding some sort of copyright protection to midi files.
 
Thanks, 
 
Bob Bone
 

I downloaded the Fantom manual, as well as a Roland 'working with midi on the Fantom' workshop, and looked at well over 50 references to SMF data, and did not see any mention of this, so I am quite at a loss as to why this is happening to you.
 
Hopefully, with enough digging, we can get you past this.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

You are right that SONAR does include a copyright notice - but only if something's in the Copyright field for the project information. SONAR auto-fills this with "Copyright 2013 by ", so there's something in there by default. Delete that, and the exported MIDI file will not contain a copyright message. So it is possible to prevent copyright notices from being included in your MIDI exports.
 
You could remove the copyright notice from an existing MIDI file by removing the message itself. Such messages are not shown in the Event View, though. You'll have to use an external hex editor. It'll be near the top of the file, and consists of the sequence 0xFF 0x02 0xNN (NN is the length of the message text) followed by the actual text. You could probably just change the 0x02 to 0x01, turning it into a generic text message block.
 
There's also the possibility that the Fantom is inserting (or modifying) the copyright notice. I'd open the file in a hex editor and examine the text of the copyright notice. If it says something like "Copyright xxxx by Roland Corp." then it's those clever guys at Roland that are messing with ya.
 
 

double post

The OP is talking about copy protection not just copyright. Maybe I am misunderstanding. Also removing a copyright notice may be illegal.  

bitflipper
You are right that SONAR does include a copyright notice - but only if something's in the Copyright field for the project information. SONAR auto-fills this with "Copyright 2013 by ", so there's something in there by default. Delete that, and the exported MIDI file will not contain a copyright message. So it is possible to prevent copyright notices from being included in your MIDI exports.
 
You could remove the copyright notice from an existing MIDI file by removing the message itself. Such messages are not shown in the Event View, though. You'll have to use an external hex editor. It'll be near the top of the file, and consists of the sequence 0xFF 0x02 0xNN (NN is the length of the message text) followed by the actual text. You could probably just change the 0x02 to 0x01, turning it into a generic text message block.
 
There's also the possibility that the Fantom is inserting (or modifying) the copyright notice. I'd open the file in a hex editor and examine the text of the copyright notice. If it says something like "Copyright xxxx by Roland Corp." then it's those clever guys at Roland that are messing with ya.
 
 

Hi Bit - I thought that copyright info was only added on audio exports.  I went through the process of saving a midi file from Sonar, to see what options showed up, and that information was not present in the Save As dialog box within Sonar.
 
Good info on the hex placement of the info - thanks for that.
 
Bob Bone
 

BTW, if it is your copyright info, I would not think there would be any problem in removing it.
 
I WISH my stuff was so popular that this would come up in a court case.  :)
 
Bob Bone
 

Copyright info is not DRM though, When MIDI files were invented DRM was just an imagination. Which leads me to think it's the keyboard firmware or (unlikely but worst case) something like the Sony rootkit. So system and driver update for the keyboard, and then do a PC virus scan check, and do a once over with Windows services. If there is something malfunctioning with Windows DRM then run windows update (although we don't know what OS the OP is running).

John
The OP is talking about copy protection not just copyright. Maybe I am misunderstanding. Also removing a copyright notice may be illegal.  

Yes, but there can't be any copy protection without a way to first indicate in the file itself that it's protected, and the copyright notice is the only mechanism for doing so. There cannot be any copy protection in a MIDI file because it's a container of data, not an executable. It's entirely up to the software that reads that file to enforce any restrictions.
 
Which is apparently what SONAR thinks it's doing, although it's bizarre that the OP can't load back in his own file. That's why I suggested examining the data in the file to see if the copyright message originated with SONAR or if it was added by the Fantom.
 
As for the legality of removing a copyright notice from a MIDI file, it would have no bearing at all on whether the file was in fact copyrighted. It's copyrighted because it was registered with the USCO, and flipping two bits in the file doesn't change that. If I rip a song from a CD and turn it into an MP3 or WMA it's still copyrighted material even though I have substantially modified the data.
 
Now, if the OP had gotten this file off the net and it was copyrighted, then I'd have no sympathy for his plight. However, it sounded to me like the MIDI sequence was his own creation. SONAR did not complain when it was originally imported, and the problem only occurred when he reloaded it after using an external editor on it.
 

I would also suggest the op exports the same midi file from cubase (which i understand he has) and sonar as a test, then import both versions into separate fantom projects and try exporting each version. Error on both exports=fantom problem.