Re: [ARSCLIST] The Incompetence at ENHS

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Loughlin" <mikel78_rpm@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> As you say, this has been decided by theLOC General Council, acting in the 
> interest of Corporate America and not the American people.  If not, then 
> what is the LOC saving this stuff for anyway? The record companies certainly 
> didn't.
> 
Best to ask Sonny Bono's estate? It appears that the LOC is "held
prisoner" by a copyright law that makes it illegal to "publish"
(in the legal sense of that term" ANY sound recording until 2067
(so far...that can be extended, remember?!). There are some cases
(most notably Grey Gull) where there aren't any parties in a legal
position to claim infringement (Theodore Shaw being somewhat
deceased)...and I leave it to any lawyers who subscribe to
define whether the Edison legacy is still under copyright
and if so who owns said copyright.

I have found that libraries...especially publicly-supported ones,
and particularly NATIONAL ones...always tend to follow the
conservative (not politically such, but simply NOT releasing any
material if there is any chance that might violate a copyright!)
direction as far as making material available. That may be because
it might be possible to make a valid claim that libraries, by
their mere existence, violate the concept of "copyright"...
based on the assumption that anyone who borrows a book/etc.
or even accesses it on site might be a potential purchaser
if the library wasn't in existence!

So...the Columbia cylinders ARE under copyright (thank you,
Mr. Bono)...and will be until 2067 arrives. Presumably (and
I say this because it has never been legally tested!) this
copyright is owned by Sony/BMG, since Sony was the successsor
to CBS, who were successor to ARC, who purchased Columbia
outright, copyrights included, from receivers in 1934. Of
course, until Canada is pressured into changing their
copyright law to match its US counterpart, it would be
possible to pass the digital sound files to the National
Library of Canada, who could legally make it available
on the Internet (but would have to block access for US
"netizens!").

Steven C. Barr