From: John Howell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: <finale@shsu.edu> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 15:49:10 -0400 To: <finale@shsu.edu> Subject: Re: [Finale] Score Binding Question
> Are we really talking about "donation" here, or plain and simple > deposit with LC as part of the copyright process? And are the > copyrights in the names of the composers, or in the names of the > movie companies? To tell you the truth, I didn't really look into it that far. I found them on file and when I went in to look at them, the rare materials librarian gave me the admonishment against copying them because of their fragile state (the Horner score is literally scotch-taped together and it seems to have been done back in 1986 when the score was first penned because the tape is all yellow and brittle with age). Since there were people all over the reading room with laptops, I asked if it would be okay to do it that way and she said it would be fine and mentioned the bit about the permissions and research purposes. I figure I've covered my bases and since these copies are only ever going to be in my own home it's not like anyone will ever really notice it. If the rights actually belong to the studio and the composers really had no authority to allow any copying at all, well, I've done my due diligence as far as I'm concerned. It's not like what I'm doing is infringing some commercial interest since there is no opportunity to purchase this music anywhere. Indeed, if there were, I would have readily done so and saved myself all the effort. As an aside, the reluctance of the studios to allow publication of their vast wealth of orchestral film scores is inexplicable to me. I once spoke with John Williams's agent and he confirmed to me that the demand for his scores is deafening and the market would be quite lucrative-- certainly enough to more than balance out the cost of typesetting them all-- but the studios won't allow it, choosing instead to keep them locked away in a vault somewhere where they don't make a penny for anyone. > Could you explain exactly how the composers "specifically allowed > for copying for research," since there is no provision in the law > itself that provides a procedure for that? The law doesn't have to specifically provide for it. It's sufficient that it provides for the owner of a copyright to control all associated rights to the work in question. If I own the copyright to something, I can give permission for it to be copied under any conditions I choose. If I want to allow copies to be made freely for research while reserving all other rights for commercial interests, then I can so stipulate. It's just like any other property you own. You can give permission for people to park in your driveway but only if they're coming to visit you, for example. No need for the city code to make a special provision for that. [P.S. -- I'm about to leave this evening for Thailand on business and won't be back for about a week so if I don't reply to any further responses on this topic for a while, don't think I'm being rude!] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
