Klarinet Archive - Posting 000350.txt from 2006/08

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevin.fay.home@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] "new" older clarinet music
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 12:51:49 -0400

Bill Foss posted re transcriptions of Kilford Neely:

<<< . . . the pieces are 50 years old and have no record or either being
copyrighted or published.>>>

Bill could well be OK here. Today, you don't have to register a copyright
to have IP rights over compositions; under prior law, however, inaction by
the copyright holder could have the effect of placing the music in the
public domain.

Copyright has expired for all works published in the United States before
1923. In other words, if the work was published in the U.S. before January
1, 1923, you are free to use it in the U.S. without permission.

Because of legislation passed in 1998, no new works will fall into the
public domain until 2019 when works published in 1923 will expire. In 2020,
works published in 1924 will expire and so forth. If a work was written by a
single author and published after 1977, the copyright will not expire until
70 years after the author's death. If a work was written by several authors
and published after 1977, it will not expire until 70 years after the last
surviving author dies.

OTOH, thousands of works published in the United States before 1964 fell
into the public domain because the copyright was not timely renewed under
the law in effect at that time. If a work was first published before 1964,
the owner had to file a renewal with the Copyright Office during the 28th
year after publication. No renewal meant a loss of copyright.

See http://www.mpa.org/copyright_resource_center/copying for the
nitty-gritty. There are on-line tools for hunting down copyright owners on
the site. You can research renewal at
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter13/index.
html.

Bottom line - there's a risk here. Factors mitigating the risk are (a) the
possibility that the copyright has lapsed because of non-renewal, and (b)
that there are no plaintiffs - if the music has never been published, there
won't be an aggrieved publisher, and there doesn't appear to be an active
estate enforcing whatever rights may exist.

kjf

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