Klarinet Archive - Posting 001152.txt from 1999/03

From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Copyrights
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 15:05:59 -0500

A good place to start is probably one of your local congressmen. If you
can, find one who is into music. Describe the problems and some proposed
solutions to him. If he is interested, it's his task to turn it into the
proper "legalese."

I certainly agree that there are a LOT of problems with the current
copyright laws. One is of course the out of print and/or refusal to
release. Another is the poorly laid out printings where the page turn is
right in the middle of a difficult passage. So legally you have to buy two
copies to cut and paste just to get something to use. Or a third problem is
some of the difficult to read publications of hand written manuscripts
(there is a band arrangement of Mozart's French Horn Concerto). You can't
write out a more legible copy legally. I certainly believe in respecting
intellectual property but it is a good thing patents don't last so long or
there would be a lot of monopolies in the world and we would be paying
incredible prices for our every day gadgets.

Dee Hays
Canton, SD

-----Original Message-----
From: charette@-----.org>
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 10:47 AM
Subject: [kl] Copyrights

>The whole copyright issue is one of those wonderful things that come around
on
>our little list once in a while, and inspires great prose & roaring flames.
>It's an issue I feel is germane to all of us; what can we legally do with
>something we've paid good money for, and what do we do when we something we
>know is patently illegal transpires.
>
>In the first case, the laws are reasonably clear as to what we can legally
>do with copyrighted material; in the case of printed music, we can perform
it
>privately and possibly publically. We can't make personal copies of it for
any
>reason. There's more if you want to check; there's the Music Publishing
site
>along with the US government sites, and most European governments have
>information sites. Asian sites may have information, too, but my Japanese
is
>horrible and I know no other language at all (bar a smattering of Latin and
>Greek from high school days).
>
>The ban against personal copying is honored more in the breech than the
>following, and I know personally of many music teachers who copy music
>from a book rather than having the student buy the book. It's a personal
>judgement call on whether or not _you_ do this. To me, it's like exceeding
>a speed limit - if you're caught, don't whine, just pay the price.
>
>Now, when we know something is illegal, what should we do? That's the
hardest
>part. Something I did when I was quite a bit younger was buy LPs and books
>in Taiwan for incredibly low prices. 20 or so years ago Taiwan did not
>subscribe to the International Copyright agreement, and made copies of
>imported material. For students "in the know" it was the same price to fly
to
>Taiwan, party on the beach, buy all your textbooks, ship them home, and
>fly back as it was to buy them at the college bookstore. That scene ended a
>number of years back. A legal loophole.
>
>The loopholes are now closed (at least the easy ones). What do we do when
we
>see laws being broken? I use my own test - but yours may vary. My personal
>test is similar to the ones I use when driving - if it appears to me that
>someone may be threatening to me, I call the police. I've called in both
>people I think to be drunk, people going way too fast, and people going way
>too slow. I let the police do their job after that.
>
>For copyrights I look at the possible damage. For some complete articles
quoted
>and sent to Klarinet - I avert my eyes. We should all know that it's
something
>we shouldn't do, but sometimes there's no other way. I know of a few cases
>here on Klarinet where authors were quoted from articles verbatim and were
>very happy about it, since the articles were copyrighted by a journal that
>no longer exists, and trying to get clearance from the courts or estates of
>the former holders is well nigh impossible.
>
>Copying an entire article that is easily accessible is something that I'd
>rather not have to cope with. It _is_ wrong, even if the article has been
passed
>around for quite some time. Now, a pointer to a place where such an article
is
>kept - well, I don't care if someone were to publish that.
>
>I am much more strict with my Web site, since that is closer to traditional
>publishing. As the readers of the Bulletin Board know, I occasionally
delete
>entire postings on the BBoard since they're readily accessable. I get
>clearance from all authors for their work before putting it up, and make
sure
>that the copyright notice is on every page. I also try & protect the
copyrights
>and works; I've had pages "borrowed" from the site with no attributions, or
>even "borrowed" with the copyrights & page counters intact as text! I
politely
>ask people to delete the pages and replace them with a link; if they don't
>I ask their ISP to shut them down. I _have_ to do that to protect both my
>work and the work of the authors on my Web site. If a person asks any of
the
>authors for reprint permission - that's the author's right, not mine. I
don't
>ask for exclusive rights.
>
>I allow myself some "gray", even when I know it's a black & white issue. I
>think that if we all follow some "common sense" (even though we know how
>uncommon that may be) we'll continue to get through these issues just fine.
>
>Now, there are a few changes I'd like to see in the copyright laws, but I
have
>no idea how or who to present them to. My changes (not well thought out
legally)
>would be in those areas where printed or recorded material is
"out-of-print";
>I'd like a simple way to pay for a personal copy of the material. As it is,
>some copyright holders have no intention of ever re-issuing their material,
>and will not grant permission to copy. Perhaps somethings based upon the
old
>renewal terms; after 35 years of not being re-released/printed you are
permitted
>to copy the material for a payment of X to the Y agency.
>
>I've mentioned before that Klarinet is an anarchy; not in the spirit of
>lawlessness but rather in the spirit of "a utopian society of individuals
who
>enjoy complete freedom without government" (Webster's Ninth Collegiate
>Dictionary, falling apart at my desk). Be that we can keep it that way.
>
>Cheers,
>Mark Charette@-----.org
>
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