Re: [ARSCLIST] Correspondence with Lawrence Lessig

[Bryan E Cornell <bcor@xxxxxxx>]

It was my understanding that recordings made before 1972 are
specifically exempted from federal copyright protection, but they do
benefit from state, common law, and anti-piracy protection.  These
protections do not expire like copyright and may have much longer terms
of protection.  The 1976 Copyright law specifically exempts pre-1972
recordings from from coverage under the federal copyright laws and
prohibits Congress from reconsidering the issue until 2047.  The Sonny
Bono law extended this prohibition until 2067.  I'll be 102 by then.

I'm a lowly librarian, not  copyright lawyer, so the above should be
taken only as a guideline.

Bryan Cornell

>>> stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 07/21/03 01:53PM >>>
----- Original Message -----
From: "James L Wolf" <jwol@xxxxxxx>
>   Remember that our friend Sonny Bono added 20 years to that
sentence.
> So this means pre-1972 recordings don't go out of common-law
copyright
> until 2067. At least until the next extension.
> >>> mrichter@xxxxxxx 07/21/03 03:01AM >>>
> Incidentally, the last entry at the last URL is "Life + 70 years or
> 12-31-2047 whichever is greater". Frankly, that sounds to me more
like
> a
> term of incarceration than a term of protection.
Aren't these "life +" copyright terms on the songs, rather than the
sound
recordings? And, is it not true that sound recordings before 1972 are
not
copyrighted due to an oversight of the writers of the original law, so
they had to be protected by various state anti-piracy laws? Keep in
mind that until after the 1942-44 AFM strike, it wasn't standard
practice
to pay royalties to recording artists, so that in 99.9% of cases their
lifespans wouldn't affect what they could collect!
Steven C. Barr