Re: [ARSCLIST] The Incompetence at ENHS

[James L Wolf <jwol@xxxxxxx>]

In 2067, ALL pre-1972 recordings are supposed to go into the public domain. Of course, realistically speaking, Disney et al. will find someone to sponser another retro-active extension sometime before 2018 (when 1923 items would start going into the public domain), and such an extension will likely pass, putting the date out to 2087 or later.

It seems unlikely to me that the public domain will ever open again, for anything, in the United States. I simply don't see anyone with enough money to counter the corporate interest, and the situation doesn't provoke enough public outrage to force any congressional member to ignore the influence and money of the corporations.

This mean, of course, that foreign countries with their actually limited copyright terms will continue to have an advantage when it comes to re-issuing older American material. 

James

All views personal. Not a statement of LOC policy.



>>> stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 10/29/06 7:37 PM >>>
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger and Allison Kulp" <thorenstd124@xxxxxxxxx>
> Pre-1972 recordings (other than those whose ownership
> is lost) will not come under Federal Copyright
> protection (and thus, hopefully, public domain status)
> until 2067! There are some early Columbia cylinder
> recordings from 1890 (technically owned by Sony-BMG)
> which will not become public domain until 2067, a
> whopping 177 years after they were 'waxed'.
> 
As I understand it, what will happen in 2067 (if we get to SEE 2067!)
is that the maze of state "anti-piracy" laws and "common law" protection
which now make it illegal (Vermont may be the exception?) to "publish"
any sound recordings except those you have made or paid to have made...
and many of these state laws have effectively unlimited terms! I don't
recall if the law, once it places sound recordings under federal
copyright, establishes a fixed term for such copyrights...?

Steven C. Barr