[Dixielandjazz] Copyright Law

[Steve Barbone]

List Mates: (band leaders and musicians especially)

We should be very clear on copyright law. Below is the copyright law as it
currently exists in the US of A: Note the last 3 paragraphs. Especially the
one that explicitly says WORKS PUBLISHED IN 1922 OR EARLIER ARE IN THE
PUBLIC DOMAIN etc, etc.

That is the CURRENT LAW whether or not the copyright has a renewal date. If,
however a specific arrangement of that tune was later registered you might
be in violation IF YOU COPY THAT ARRANGEMENT. Or if someone wrote new words
to an old tune e.g. That's Why They Call Me Shine, 1910 is public domain,
BUT the newer lyric written in 1927; Shine you shoesies, shine away you
bluesies etc., is protected. (they should never be sung anyway because they
are a bastardization of the original intent of the tune, but that's another
story)

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


UNITED STATE COPYRIGHT LAW:
US copyright law is found in Title 17 of the United States Code and is
administered by the US Copyright Office.   " Terms for Copyright
Protection", a U.S. Government publication, summarizes the current duration
of copyright protection for published works as follows:

*    Works created after 1/1/1978  -  life of the longest surviving author
plus 70 years -  earliest possible PD date is 1/1/2048
*    Works registered before 1/1/1978  -  95 years from the date copyright
was secured.
*    Works registered before 1/1/1923 - Copyright protection for 75 years
has expired and these works are in the public domain.

The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act was signed into law on October
27, 1998.  Prior to the Sonny Bono 20 year copyright term extension,
copyright protection for works registered before 1/1/1978 was 75 years;
therefore, compositions registered in 1922 or earlier entered the public
domain on 1/1/1998.  The 1998 copyright extension did not extend copyright
protection from 75 to 95 years for songs already in the public domain so . .

*    THE GOOD NEWS -  works published in the United States in 1922 or
earlier are in the public domain even if  they are not yet 95 years old. 

*    THE BAD NEWS - no new works will enter the public domain until January
1, 2019. 

You can confirm the above information about public domain and copyright
protection in "Extension of Copyright Terms", Circular 15t, of the U.S.
Copyright Office.  Specifically the last paragraph of Page 3 states in part
"Works published before January 1, 1923, have fallen into the public
domain."