Many thanks for the last batch of digests. I tried the FTP today
and it didn't work this time either. Please take a look at the
[ Editor's Note: My apologies that the FTP site is not
[ working correctly for you. I'm going to be out of town
[ on business so I'll be at least a week before I can get
[ to this. I recognize that as our visibility continues
[ to increase, this will be more and more of a problem.
[ Has anyone else had any problems ?
attached LONG note and forward it to the list only if you feel
that it should be. It may be a dead issue by now or it may--more
likely--cover ground well covered before I came on the scene.
Drop the whole thing or edit out parts, as you see fit, if that
is the case.
[ Some of what is below feels like review, but I'm still
[ uncertain enough about how the rules apply that any review
[ is good. I'm enclosing the text without editing it.
[
[ I am curious, though. Music seems to come in several
[ forms. There's the original score. There's performances
[ of that score. Both of these may be copyrighted. I've been
[ told that the rules regarding licensing and royalties vary
[ substantially depending on whether its a "score" or a "performance".
[ Is this true ? If so, then is a roll a score or a performance ?
[ Is an EPROM, floppy, FTP'd file, etc containing a tune a score,
[ or a performance ? Does the representation matter (MIDI events,
[ audio samples, etc).
[
[ What about "proprietary" file formats of various music editing
[ programs. Are we allowed to discuss them here ? Are we allowed
[ to write non-commercial programs that do file conversions ?
[ Can we exchange or sell such programs ? What laws apply ?
[ I realize this is not a forum of lawyers, but I'd like to
[ keep the discussion going in this area
I am still reading and digesting the knowledge you, Robbie, John
Grant, and others are sharing out here about roll reading technology.
I will have some questions, but I don't even know what they are at the
moment. My goal is not to be dependent on Play-Rite for copies of
Wurlitzer rolls.
[ My hope is that our hobby (and for some of us commercial) interests
[ in roll archival don't turn out to be a legal mess. I do hope
[ that with the correct caveats we can continue to pursue the
[ technical issues of archival here.
Here comes the attachment:¶
------------------------------------------¶
THIS IS AN ATTACHMENT TO THE ABOVE MESSAGE¶
------------------------------------------¶
I come late to this discussion and because I am not yet able to
FTP to Jody's site to pick up past digests but must rely on her
patience to Email them to me selectively, I have not read your
posts on the subject of copyright. However there are a couple of
points in Stephen Kent Goodman's note of 95.08.26 that I would
like to expand upon. (By the way I have his two Eau Claire
ragtime tapes and they are splendid)
The Copyright Act of 1976 extended all copyrights that had not
expired as of January 1, 1978 (that being the date the 1976 act
took effect, superseding the Copyright Act of 1909)--and one must
take into account the fact that during the several years prior to
1976 when Congress was debating the provisions of the act, it
kept passing interim legislation the effect of which was to
extend the period of protection for works whose copyright was
expiring during that interim period, because Congress fully
realized that it was on the threshold of changing copyright
duration from the then-applicable 28-plus-28 years to a new
longer protection period--so that copyright would expire on
December 31 of the 75th year from the date of original copyright.
That means that, assuming proper renewal of copyright in the 28th
year of the original copyright term under the 1909 act (which is
a safe thing to assume for any really successful book or musical
composition), works written, or music arranged, after January 1,
1921, is PROBABLY still protected today. But it is guaranteed
that everything created prior to January 1, 1921, is now in the
public domain. And on January 1, 1997, copyright protection for
1921 works will expire, and so on year by year until there are no
works left covered by the Copyright Act of 1909 at all. The 1976
act provides quite different copyright provisions from any
previously known in the United States, modeling itself after
European and international custom. The concept of common law
copyright was abolished, copyright vests upon creation and is not
related to publication or non-publication (nor for that matter to
registration--though registration is a prudent precaution). Nor,
since U.S. adherence to the Berne Convention on March 1, 1989, is
a copyright notice on copies of a work now required (though again
it is prudent and its absence will probably influence a court's
decision on awarding damages to a party whose copyright has been
infringed). Copyright in a work of personal authorship lasts for
the life of the author (or, in the case of multiple authors, the
last survivor) plus 50 years. For works of corporate authorship
or anonymous works (defined as works whose author has not been
revealed to the Copyright Office) the term of copyright is 75
years from date of publication or 100 years from date of
creation, whichever expires first.
Here comes the part germane to this list: the 1976 act was the
first act to extend copyright protection to sound recordings
(which includes music rolls). Prior to 1972, the only protection
for sound recordings was under common law or under individual
State law. On February 15, 1972, the first Federal anti-piracy
legislation took effect, but that is not copyright protection,
and it covers only sound recordings fixed since February 15,
1972. The Copyright Act of 1976, which does offer copyright to
any sound recording made January 1, 1978 or later, specifically
provides that sound recordings fixed before February 15,
1972--which is most of what interests us--will continue to be
covered only by applicable common law and State statutes until
February 15, 2047. That means that the question of rights and
protection of old music rolls is a very unclear one, especially
in view of the difficulty of tracing the devolvement of ownership
rights for companies that are defunct or that have merged many
times over. It also means that none of us will live to see the
day when old music rolls will be unequivocally and indisputably
in the public domain.
Play-Rite, for example, puts a copyright notice on rolls made
since 1978 and had been using a warning stamp referring to the
1972 anti-piracy act on rolls made before that date. But I
question its right to claim ownership in sound recordings that
are merely copies of very old rolls, as most of its band organ
rolls and other rolls are. John Malone told me that he has a
letter from Farny Wurlitzer giving him rights to Wurlitzer rolls.
That conflicts with the story that Farny told Dave Bowers that
anybody was free to copy his stuff at will--not to mention the
cloud cast on the transmission of legal rights by this series of
sales: Wurlitzer sold its roll department to Allan Herschell
Company, which sold to Ralph Tussing, whose estate sold to Doyle
Lane, who sold to John Malone and his partners. What a legal
mess that would be to sort out in courtÿ Mr. Goodman
incidentally mentions Wurlitzer as if it were still a live firm.
It has died, a lean and meager ghost of its former self, in
Texas, of all places, going bankrupt there. Steinway bought the
name, but nothing else, I think. In like fashion Don Rand did
buy the rights to the Clark name, if I remember correctly what he
told me. And likewise, although the BAB Organ Company physical
equipment went to Senator Bovey and Ozzie Wurdeman, the right to
the name was purchased from Dominick Brugnolotti (who was the
last B in the BAB name) by Gavin McDonough, who conducts his band
organ business under that name.
A more complete but understandable account of copyright law as it
pertains to music can be had from the New Grove Dictionary of
American Music, under the rubric "Copyright." If any list
recipient wants copies of any of the Copyright Office's brochures
on any aspect of copyright, I can get them for you, since the
Copyright Office is one floor below my office.
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