Klarinet Archive - Posting 000142.txt from 2000/08

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Bram Stoker (was: [kl] Facial exercises?)
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 09:15:08 -0400

Bill Wright quoted from the editor of a Bram Stoker collection:
> "[Bram Stoker's heir said that] unfortunately most of the works had
>lapsed into public domain. "

Mark Charette wrote:
>>I find that hilarious. Unfortunately??

Bill Wright responded,
>>>...I am not taking sides in the case of Bram Stoker. It seems
>>>reasonable to me that there should be some limitation on the term of
>>>copyrights and patents and prosecution of less serious crimes and so
>>>forth, and there should be some allowance for fair use even before the
>>>term as expired.

Just to clarify the situation with Bram Stoker, he did copyright his own
work. His heirs renewed the rights as long as possible after Stoker died,
and IMHO helped maintain Stoker's popularity by being reasonable and
accessible about licensing fees and permissions, while discouraging the many
attempted piracies. However, Stoker's first horror story, "The Crystal Cup,"
was published in 1872; _Dracula_ was first published in 1897; and most of
Stoker's other fiction is of similar vintage. Stoker died in 1912. I'm not
sure exactly how the changing international copyright laws have affected such
early works, but in any case, the rights are not renewable indefinitely and
have simply expired, due to the passage of time. For once, there wasn't
anything sinister going on.

Tony W. is right about Whitby as the setting of the shipwreck and much of
_Dracula_, BTW. The orchestration job for a vampire musical sounds like fun!
Please keep us posted....

Lelia

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org