At 9:13 PM -0500 9/2/05, Noel Stoutenburg wrote:
When, in response to Johannes' comment;
Just out of curiosity, I am currently wondering whether a printed
edition from 1978 in the US is still under copyright (for the
printed edtion, not for the piece itself, which is from the 19th
century)?
Dr. Howell writes,
If it carries a copyright notice, it is.
my own personal experience prompts me to disagree. I own copies of
two editions of the same item, one in the public domain in the U.S.
by virtue of its age, the other a published, with a copyright notice
from the early 1980's. A note by note, expression by expression
comparison of the two editions shows that the copyright notice from
the 1980's is most likely fraudulent, as the only difference between
the two editions is the name of the "arranger" below the name of the
original composer.
I do not mean to suggest that this was a common practice, but I do
mean to suggest that, in the case of older works, it may be prudent
to take the time and effort to verify that the claim of copyright
notice is, in fact, legitmately made.
Noel is, of course, exactly right. The most egregious example of
this kind of behavior I'm aware of is the fraudulent claim of
copyright by a certain publisher in an enormous amount of 19th
century piano music. I won't name the publisher, but think of yellow
covers!
But when a local composer wrote a musical version of "The Prisoner of
Zenda," a few years ago, I checked the book out of the library to
read it, and discovered an entirely spurious copyright notice on it
since the book was clearly public domain by its date of original
publication.
So let me amend my response: If it carries a legitimate copyright
notice, it is!
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
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