[Upd-discuss] recordings in the public domain

[David M. Berry]

The issue is probably that the recordings have two copyrights  
associated with them.

(1) A songwriter copyright (70 years after the death of author, or if  
work of corporate authorship, the shorter of 95 years from  
publication, or 120 years from creation)

and

(2) A mechanical or sound recording copyright (95 years from  
publication I think in the US/50 years in UK)


Both would technically have to go out of copyright - although it  
would depend on your usage...

This is a useful link http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/ 
Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm






On 24 Oct 2005, at 16:07, Stark wrote:

> First, I apologize if this is considered off topic for this list.   
> It is however an attempt to expand the public domain.
>
> A colleague of mine has a pretty large collection of rare 78's,  
> most of which is entirely unavailable for purchase by modern  
> publishers.  I had hoped we could make digital copies and make them  
> available on the web.  However,  this site:
> http://www.pdinfo.com/record.htm
> made me quite leary.  the key statement is:
> "Different copyright experts have offered very different  
> complicated explanations, but all agree that all sound recordings  
> essentially are under copyright protection until the year 2067. "
> Is this accurate?  Could someone clarify for my why this is so?   
> What about the case where the music publisher has gone out of  
> business?  What happens to the copyright then?  I assume this is  
> true only in America?   If someone could point me in the right  
> direction to answer these questions, I'd be grateful.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Upd-discuss mailing list
> Upd-discuss@lists.essential.org
> http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/upd-discuss
>