[Upd-discuss] recordings in the public domain

[Michael Hart]

There were no copyrights on performances [at least in the US]
until 1972. . .the (P) symbol, if you recall.

Such statements as:

"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. "

should be reviewed by copyright lawyers, then likely laughed off
as more "blowing of smoke" by the copyright holders/attorneys.

In the US, just about everything published before 1923 is public domain,
including music, and most early works required a copyright renewal 28
years later, which was rarely sought, and thus most copyright expired,
at least until the copyright lobbyists got the renewal requirement axec
in the 1976 US Copyright Act.

We can send your questions to copyright experts, heads of law libraries,
and our own volunteer copyright lawyers to uncloud the air, if you like.


Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg



On Mon, 24 Oct 2005, David M. Berry wrote:

>
> 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.
>> 
>> 
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