Klarinet Archive - Posting 000467.txt from 2006/03

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] "Communist" copyrights
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:19:39 -0500

<<<Yesterday when I tried to buy a piece by Katchaturian, the lady at
the
sheet music store said that "It is out of print because of the Communist
copyrights." The lady couldn't explain the details except that
something happened with copyrights in Russia and other ex-Communist
countries.>>>

As it has been explained to me, the Soviet Union never agreed to the
provisions of the international copyright protocol. As a result,
countries behind the iron curtain could pirate any music that that
wanted, and countries in the west could do the same with Russian music.
Many Russian pieces were printed and sold in the US and other countries
during that time, and no royalties were paid to the composers or the
original publishers.

Since the fall of the communist government, Russia has become a
signatory to this agreement. Therefore, many works that were previously
published in the west came under the provisions of the copyright
agreement, and publishers had to withdraw those works from publication
and negotiate new agreements as to payment of royalties. Many works
have been re-issued under new copyrights, and negotiations are
continuing in other cases.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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