Not being a lawyer, I can't say for sure...but I suspect it was because the recordings were originally cut in the UK, and if over 50 years old were p.d. in that country. I don't know enough about international copyright law to say whether or not that makes them p.d. in the US as well...but, as I understand it, the basis for the suit was that EMI had reissued the same material (taken from recordings in their own archive)...?
Mike -- mrichter@xxxxxxx http://www.mrichter.com/