[Dixielandjazz] Copyrights

[Stephen Barbone]

Dave Gravett printed the Copyright Law:

Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on the

date a work was published with a copyright notice or on the date of
registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In either
case,
the copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was
secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright
was
eligible for renewal. The Copyright Act of 1976 extended the renewal
term
from 28 to 47 years for copyrights that were subsisting on January 1,
1978,
or for pre-1978 copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements
Act
(URAA), making these works eligible for a total term of protection of 75

years. Public Law 105-298, enacted on October 27, 1998, further extended
the
renewal term of copyrights still subsisting on that date by an
additional 20
years, providing for a renewal term of 67 years and a total term of
protection of 95 years.

Public Law 102-307, enacted on June 26, 1992, amended the 1976 Copyright
Act
to provide for automatic renewal of the term of copyrights secured
between
January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977. Although the renewal term is
automatically provided, the Copyright Office does not issue a renewal
certificate for these works unless a renewal application and fee are
received and registered in the Copyright Office.

Public Law 102-307 makes renewal registration optional. Thus, filing for

renewal registration is no longer required in order to extend the
original
28-year copyright term to the full 95 years. However, some benefits
accrue
from making a renewal registration during the 28th year of the original
term.

For more detailed information on renewal of copyright and the copyright
term, request Circular 15, "Renewal of Copyright"; Circular 15a,
"Duration
of Copyright"; and Circular 15t, "Extension of Copyright Terms."
==========

So? What about our tunes written/published in the 1920s? Do we pay
royalties
or not? Anyone have an idea? What's your interpretation of these
paragraphs?

Thanks, again. Trying to do the right thing,

Dave and Listmates:

Caution, I am not a practicing attorney but I think it means that if a
tune possessed a valid copyright in 1978 it is automatically protected
for 95 years from the date of registration.

Except that to have been valid in 1978, the farthest (or furthest) back
it could go is 28 year original copyright plus a 28 year renewal, if
made. 28 plus 28 equals 56 years. 1978 minus 56 equals 1922, Thus IMO
everything prior to 1922 is in public domain. Everything after 1922, if
it had a valid copyright in 1978, is now automatically protected for 95
years.

CAUTION, THE ABOVE IS NOT AN ATTORNEY'S OPINION.

On the practical side, consider JBB's advice, fuggetaboudit and find a
CD duplicator who is not so particular. Or, failing that, do what jazz
men have done for years, list yourself as the composer and change the
name of the tune. ;-)

Like how many "Bill Baileys" are there?   (Tiger Rag, Washington & Lee
Swing, Bourbon Street Parade etc. Did they pay royalties to Bill Bailey
composers?

Or Donna Lee, (Indiana) Hot House (Whispering) etc.

The owner of Savoy records, a notorious cheapskate, in the 40s and 50s
never recorded an existing tune where he had to pay royalties. He just
had all those bop cats rename the tune. Notorious example is Bird's
"KoKo", which is simply a tune written on the chords of "Cherokee". Or
Monk's "Bright Mississippi" which is a thinly disguised "Sweet Georgia
Brown" or his "Hackensack" which is really "Lady Be Good"

Like JBB said, the record producers just bought these tunes from the
musos for $50 bucks, made it back by shorting them on the session fee
and pumped out the records, making their own fortunes.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

PS. Do any of us pay performance royalties on "Happy Birthday" which is
still protected?