BTW, here is the copyright notice Woody Guthrie affixed to his own self-published songbooks:
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do." W.G.
- Darcy
Well, there you are. The 1909 law was VERY picky about the exact form of the copyright notice. It had to have 3 specific elements: "Copyright" or c-in-a-circle; the name of the author; and the year of first publication. Woody's made-up notice was non-standard, not legal, and therefore the song was PD instantly and permanently. There's such a thing as being TOO laid back! Lawson (or whoever that publisher is) can't possibly claim copyright because no copyright ever existed.
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
