Pianosdude@aol.com (Joe) "Music Copyrights"

> I have seen various references to copyrights and would like to know if
> anyone can clearly define what is the current protection period of copyright
> for published music. In particular, what is the cutoff date on old player
> piano and similar material. At what point in time can royalties be terminated?

With Congress in session, almost anything can happen.  This is
my understanding as of the current time: copyright runs for 50
years plus the life of the original author, or for 75 years for
works-for-hire (i.e. commissioned work).  This was an extension
by Congress of the original copyright act, passed some 20 years
ago.  There was a bill in the latest Congress to extend these
figures another 20 years each, to 70 years plus life of the author,
and 95 years for works-for-hire, I don't know where it is or what
state it is in.  In theory, none of these changes applied to any-
thing already in the public domain when Congress first monkeyed
with the law, but it can be very difficult to tell the actual
copyright status of a work, especially now that Congress has rem-
oved any requirement that a copyright work be clearly marked.  So,
as far as I know, there is no hard-and-fast cutoff date that will
guarantee something is public domain, but I think that anything
prior to 1900 is probably safe, especially if the author was't
very long-lived.  Lousy answer, I know, but Congress is way out
of control on this intellectual property stuff.

regards,¶
Larry Smith