Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-08-22 11:09
joannew wrote:
> I thought anything more than 100 years old became public domain
> - not the publisher's typeset score (which belongs to them),
> but the music itself.
In the US the typesetting is probably not covered by the copyright, but editorial notes and editing are.
> So anyone who cares to write out the
> Mozart concerto by hand, or on their music software, is free to
> do so.
The Mozart is an interesting case. Since there's no manuscript, every edition is a guess at its reconstruction. That editon is can probably legally be copyrighted.
> Isn't that why we have legal pdf sheet music download
> sites, and Project Gutenberg has free legal book downloads?
>
> So for folk music, the music itself should be in the public
> domain, as long as it is >100 years old, so if you play by ear
> or from a personal transcription, there whould be no copyright
The other post noted the time limit. After an edition is past that point AND there are no other restrictions (there can be legally binding agreements whreby you're not allowed to reproduce a manuscript, for instance) then it reverts to the public domain.
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