Klarinet Archive - Posting 001135.txt from 1997/11

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: COPYRIGHT AND TRANSCRIBING
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 18:33:43 -0500

On Sun, 30 Nov 1997, Neil Leupold wrote:
> Whether it's 50 or 70 years, what are the laws with regard
> to composers who have been dead for a couple of centuries?

Any work that you arrange or copy or use in any format that is your own
work off of the music that is over 75 years old is fine....unless the
copyright was renewed only within the past 49 years. For works whose
composer has been dead for a couple of centuries, as long as you are not
copying an edition rather than the original, you should be fine. If you
are arranging off of an edition, there is no legal proof that you did not
arrange off of the original, so you should still be fine.

Roger Garrett
IWU