Issues of Copyright

[garfield_cadets]

Since drum corps is a musical idiom I would like to discuss a bit about copyrights.

I would like to know how classical music is still able to be held under copyright when U.S. law states:

Works Originally Created before January 1, 1978, But Not Published or Registered by That Date

These works have been automatically brought under the statute and are now given federal copyright protection. The duration of copyright in these works is generally computed in the same way as for works created on or after January 1, 1978: the life-plus-70 or 95/120-year terms apply to them as well. The law provides that in no case would the term of copyright for works in this category expire before December 31, 2002, and for works published on or before December 31, 2002, the term of copyright will not expire before December 31, 2047.

Works Originally Created and Published or Registered before January 1, 1978

Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on the date a work was published with a copyright notice or on the date of registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In either case, the copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright was eligible for renewal. The Copyright Act of 1976 extended the renewal term from 28 to 47 years for copyrights that were subsisting on January 1, 1978, or for pre-1978 copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), making these works eligible for a total term of protection of 75 years. Public Law 105-298, enacted on October 27, 1998, further extended the renewal term of copyrights still subsisting on that date by an additional 20 years, providing for a renewal term of 67 years and a total term of protection of 95 years.

Public Law 102-307, enacted on June 26, 1992, amended the 1976 Copyright Act to provide for automatic renewal of the term of copyrights secured between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977. Although the renewal term is automatically provided, the Copyright Office does not issue a renewal certificate for these works unless a renewal application and fee are received and registered in the Copyright Office.

Public Law 102-307 makes renewal registration optional. Thus, filing for renewal registration is no longer required to extend the original 28-year copyright term to the full 95 years. However, some benefits accrue to renewal registrations that were made during the 28th year.

For more detailed information on renewal of copyright and the copyright term, request Circular 15, Renewal of Copyright; Circular 15a, Duration of Copyright; and Circular 15t, Extension of Copyright Terms.

Source: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci

Say for example Pachabel's Canon. He died in 1706. How can the music he wrote be copyrighted?

What works do you know of that are not under copyright that units could utilize?

Discuss! :P

[SCVsopAaron]

THEN WE CAN POST THE VIDEOS ON DCP!!

*grumble grumble*

<_<

[mobrien]

Pachabel, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc AREN'T copyrighted. You can do anything you want with them, as you can with anything else that was first published in or before 1922 (the start date in US law for all things copyrighted - the EU laws are quite different).

HOWEVER..if another composer has written an arrangement that was based on work that was in the public domain (re-orchestrating it, reworking it, etc), it's entirely likely that their arrangement IS copyrighted, so someone would have to be careful if they chose to use that arrangement as the basis for a show.

There have been instances when an artist has found ways to extend copyright past the original term. GB Shaw was a master at 'updating' his plays every few decades so that the plays from his most fertile period of writing in early 1900s could remain copyrighted. HOWEVER, the copyright only extended to the 'updated' version (which generally only included a few minor revisions). To this day, if you try doing a Shaw play that was updated, you'll find that his agency in the States will try to collect a royalty - because they assume you're doing the 'latest' version, which IS under copyright. But if you simply pull out the 1904 version of the same script and say, "nope, we're doing THIS version", the agent walks away knowing that they can't do a darn thing about it. Doesn't stop them from collecting tens of thousands each year from producers/schools, etc, who don't know about copyright law and the free-use of pre-1922 publications.

Edited October 11, 2006 by mobrien

[Wild Nights]

So how do you go about obtaining copyright information for all the classical music written since 1922 (especially if the composers are dead)?

I'm thinking Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Holst, Prokoviev, Copland, etc...

[Tristan]

THEN WE CAN POST THE VIDEOS ON DCP!!

*grumble grumble*

<_<

No, you may not--the corps themselves are not playing the original arrangements and orchestrations of the classical music, and they hold the copyright to the arrangements and drill used.

[mobrien]

ASCAP and BMI are the clearing houses with info about who owns the copyright and can grant clearance on any contemporary work. Most of the composers you mentioned would still be covered by copyright (I don't think there IS any Copland music written before 1922).

It used to be that the copyright automatically passed to the public domain after a period of reasonable years (I wanna say it was 70 years from original publication), but Sonny Bono's major accomplishment as a Congressman was to screw with copyright law so that the term was extended several more decades. Walt Disney Corp. was particularly happy to see their pet Representative get this done, as otherwise, Mickey would have become public property a few years ago.

Capsule version of the Bono act is that it "extended the term of protection by 20 years for works copyrighted after January 1, 1923. Works copyrighted by individuals since 1978 got "life plus 70" rather than the existing "life plus 50". Works made by or for corporations (referred to as "works made for hire") got 95 years. Works copyrighted before 1978 were shielded for 95 years, regardless of how they were produced."

[mistofflies]

ASCAP and BMI are the clearing houses with info about who owns the copyright and can grant clearance on any contemporary work. Most of the composers you mentioned would still be covered by copyright (I don't think there IS any Copland music written before 1922).

It used to be that the copyright automatically passed to the public domain after a period of reasonable years (I wanna say it was 70 years from original publication), but Sonny Bono's major accomplishment as a Congressman was to screw with copyright law so that the term was extended several more decades. Walt Disney Corp. was particularly happy to see their pet Representative get this done, as otherwise, Mickey would have become public property a few years ago.

Capsule version of the Bono act is that it "extended the term of protection by 20 years for works copyrighted after January 1, 1923. Works copyrighted by individuals since 1978 got "life plus 70" rather than the existing "life plus 50". Works made by or for corporations (referred to as "works made for hire") got 95 years. Works copyrighted before 1978 were shielded for 95 years, regardless of how they were produced."

You're exactly right about ASCAP and BMI...I believe you would go to them to find out what publisher owns the copyright and then talk to them about getting the licensing to create a derivative work.

Are you by chance in the commerical music industry? It's what I want to do when I graduate college...I'm just now studying all this copyright and publishing stuff. It's a bit dry but can be pretty interesting at times.