Re: [ARSCLIST] [was ARSCLIST] When you die...

[Karl Miller <karl.miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:    ***What I'm trying to avoid (this may be obvious) is to sell one of
my CD-R-based discs to a hapless senior-citizen lady in West
Oskosh Heights...and then have the RIAA, accompanied by law-
enforcement officers of various sorts, drag both the hapless
purchaser and myself into a Wisconsin-located courtroom to
face a list of copright-violation offenses as long as a 1969
Buick Electra 225...?!
   
  An interesting case in point...The International Music Score Library Project...from their web site:
  " On Saturday October 13, 2007, I received a second Cease and Desist letter from Universal Edition. At first I thought this letter would be similar in content to the first Cease and Desist letter I received in August. However, after lengthy discussions with very knowledgeable lawyers and supporters, I became painfully aware of the fact that I, a normal college student, has neither the energy nor the money necessary to deal with this issue in any other way than to agree with the cease and desist, and take down the entire site. I cannot apologize enough to all IMSLP contributors, who have done so much for IMSLP in the last two years."

Basically, what happened, as far as I know, was that the site offered scanned versions of public domain music. Well, some of it was not PD in the US, hence the cease and desist letter. 
  
***It is also interesting to note that in things literary, a book
will remain under copyright for the length of the applicable
copyright term applying in the country where it was originally
written...but apparently a sound recording's copyright status
depends on the term applicable in the country where same was
manufactured (otherwise the rest of the world would have to
wait until 1/1/2067 (subject to further extension...?!) to
hear the "greatest hits of the Peerless Quartette"...?!

  I am not sure I understand what you have written. For example, I believe that a recording issued in the US in 1950 is PD for much of the world. However, if a recording was issued in France in 1950, it is not PD in the US. It is my understanding that this is a reflection of the terms of the Gatt treaty. 
   
  I have many discs and tapes of performances from the French Broadcasting System. These recordings are PD in France, but I cannot issue them in the US. 
   
  As we have often discussed on this list, due to the economics and legalities involved in making copyrighted material of marginal interest (the costs to issue are likely to exceed the income from sales), those of us in the US are deprived of information that is PD in most of the rest of the world. Again, it is that difficult juggling act which is endemic to a free market society, namely the rights of the individual versus the right to make a buck. As I type this, I am reminded of the often used phrase that the US is the richest nation, however, unfortunately that "richness" does not necessarily apply to the access of information.
   
  Karl